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in: Articles requiring citations, TSR staff, Writers

Jim Ward

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"It's wonderful when your hobby can give back to you more than just a fun time, and role-playing certainly has done that for me. I hope it's done—or will do—the same for you."
— Jim Ward, Dragon #203 (Mar 1994)

James Michael Ward,[1] variously credited as Jim Ward, James Ward, and James M. Ward, was an early and influential writer who worked on Dungeons & Dragons. His notable works include Gods, Demi-Gods & Heroes (1976) and Deities & Demigods (1e) (1980).

He is the namesake of the World of Greyhawk character Drawmij. He also created TSR's science fiction roleplaying games Gamma World and Metamorphosis Alpha.

Life and career[]

Early life[]

Jim Ward lived most of his life in Elkhorn, Wisconsin. His family moved from Wisconsin to Washington following the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, when the Wisconsin National Guard was transferred there. His first experience of science fiction and fantasy was Tom Swift in fifth grade, which he discovered in the US Army Exchange store.[1]

He graduated from high school in 1969.[2]

At one point he worked at a grocery store, earning 99 cents per hour.[3]

In 1973, he graduated from college, and worked with an industrial maintainence company as a building cleaner.[1]

Early involvement with TSR[]

Ward first met Gary Gygax by chance in 1974, when buying science fiction and fantasy books at the Lake Geneva News Agency. The store had an offer for a nuumber of books for $10, and the two noticed to their amusement that they had coincidentally picked the same books. Gygax invited Ward to play D&D, creating his first character. He played in Gary's D&D game in 1974 and 1975, before leaving for five years to work as a high school teacher.[1][4][5]

His earliest official contributions to the D&D game were made in 1975. He contributed an article to Strategic Review #3 (August 1975), and was listed in issue 5 (Dec 1975) as a Dungeon Master, giving a P.O. Box address in Prarie du Chien, Wisconsin. The following year he was thanked in the third D&D supplement, Eldritch Wizardry (1976), and co-wrote Gods, Demi-Gods & Heroes (1976), for which he did most of the historical research. He also conducted proofreading of the earliest D&D products.

Early in 1976, Ward showed TSR some rough notes on his game Metamorphosis Alpha. The game was introduced at the Origins II convention.[6]. The original manuscript was 40 pages, and pitched as a science fiction version of D&D. Gygax demanded an 80 page manuscript, and after five total revisions it was finally accepted for publication.[1] Ward intentionally used six-sided dice for the rules, both to differentiate it from D&D, which used the d20, but also due to the relative rarity of polyhedral dice in those days.[7]

Ward at this time was an occasional player in TSR's Wednesday night games sessions.[8] In one D&D session run by Gary Gygax, in which Ward was a player, the party entered a portal which took them to the Starship Warden from Metamorphosis Alpha. Gygax informed the players that Jim Ward would take over running the D&D adventure as a Metamorphosis Alpha campaign.[9]

During the playtesting of S1 Tomb of Horrors (1e) (1978), Ward created "Ren 'o the Blade", a thief character. "Ren" as a character name subsequently appeared in numerous sourcebooks which Ward worked on, including variants such as Wren and Renn.[10][11]

In 1978, TSR published Gamma World, another science fiction RPG written by Ward and developed by Jake Jaquet. Ward estimated that he contributed about 75% of the work on that project.[12]

Employment at TSR[]

In 1980, he was hired at TSR when Gary Gygax offered to match the pay he had received as a teacher, which around a $13,500 annual salary.[13][14] He worked in the sales department, initially as inventory controller. [15] TSR gained an employee who was able to travel to conventions and run games. He attended Gen Con and Gen Con East in 1981, running games non-stop at the latter. He was familiar with all TSR games at the time, and usually ran at least one game of Gamma World, but also ran other games including Top Secret, Boot Hill, and Fight in the Skies. Ward's appearance at Gen Con was advertised in the Fiend Folio (1e) (1981), p.126.

Following the departure of Tim Kask from TSR in 1980, Ward was given the unenviable duty of confiscating bootleg photocopied versions of TSR products at conventions.[16]

By late 1981 or early 1982 had moved into the education department, becoming Director of Education.[1]

He continued to live in Elkhorn, WI, at this point, with his wife and three children. Having been introduced to wargaming by Gary Gygax, he collected and painted miniatures of the Revolutionary War and English Civil War; and ancient Greeks and Persians, which he played using TSR's Classic Warfare. He ran campaigns at TSR and played others. He also played various board games, including Avalon Hill's Alexander the Great board game, the science fiction Imperium, and the gold rush game Klondike.[1]

In Silver Anniversary Collector's Edition, The Story of TSR (1999), former TSR marketing director John Danovich relates a story where a copy of Deities & Demigods (1e) (1980) autographed by Jim Ward was placed for auction at Gen Con 14 (August 1981) for the price of $15. It failed to receive bids, and offered to pay 50 cents to anyone who would take it away. A boy accepted the offer. Ward told the boy "I would have paid a dollar for it," and the boy let him purchase the book from him for one dollar.

In another story, he once autographed a toy penguin for a boy, who auctioned it off at Winter Revel. Outraged, Ward bid on it, and the audience, amused by this, bid up from $2 to $19. He threw it out, but for years afterward was known as the penguin guy.[17]

In 1982, Ward wrote The Fairy Mound of Dragonkind, an adventure module for the AD&D Open Tournament scenario at Gen Con East (July 1982). It was played by 290 players divided into 35 teams.[18]

In 1983, Ward ran the finals of the Gamma World Game Open at Gen Con 16 (August 1983). He also wrote the module.[19] He also served as coordinator for the AD&D Game Open RPGA tournament at East Con, but organizational failures meant that arrangements could only be made for 80 players, not the 300 intended.[20]

Departure and return[]

In 1984, a downturn saw TSR reduced from around 388 employees to around 76. Despite being personally responsible for making $2 million dollars in one year, Ward was laid off along with around fifty other employees in a third round of layoffs on April 4, 1984. He continued to work for TSR as a freelance writer, innovating with the One-On-One and Catacomb gamebooks.[21][22]

Sixteen months later, TSR re-hired Ward. He quickly rose to a management position as Director of Product.[23][24]

In 1986 he was a guest at Winter Fantasy convention, January 4-5;[25] and Quincon in Quincy, IL, July 18-20.[26] He was again a guest at Winter Fantasy 1987,[27] at Boarshead Midsummer Revel, June 26-28, in West Bend, WI,[28] and Rock-Con XIV at Rockton, IL.[29] He would be a guest again at Rock-Con XX.[30]

Late in 1986, Jim Ward and Harold Johnson developed the RPGA's Living City concept.[31] He would play Lord Mayor Charles Oliver O'Kane at the first Living City Bazaar.[32]

In Dragon #151 (Nov 1989) he penned the controversial editorial Game Wizards: Angry Mothers From hack (and what we do about them). He takes credit for removing references to demons and devils from AD&D 2nd edition to avoid complaints from angry parents. The magazine received at least 91 letters about this editorial, leading to a follow-up article in Dragon #158 (Jun 1990). Contrary to popular belief, the decision to remove the assassin class was instead made by Zeb Cook.[33]

By the Fall of 1990, Ward led TSR's game division. He was instrumental in the decision to publish The Magic Encyclopedia Volume One (1992) and The Magic Encyclopedia Volume Two (1993), which had originally been pitched by writer slade as a Polyhedron magazine article series. This in turn led to the creation of Encyclopedia Magica series, which published just about every Dungeons & Dragons magic item to date.[34] According to the credits to Encyclopedia Magica Volume One (1994), Ward laughed when he heard that slade had been assigned to the monumental task.

From Dragon #151 (Nov 1989), Dungeon #21 (Jan/Feb 1990), and Polyhedron #88 (Oct 1993) he served as Publisher of those magazines.

By 1994, he was a TSR vice president.[32] During his management, he was credited with fighting for the interests of staff against executive management.[35]

For Winter Fantasy 1995 he wrote the adventure module The Mansion of the Mad Wizard Ren.[36]

Departure from TSR[]

In October 1996,[37] Ward made the decision to resign from TSR. He would later describe his reason as a response to a decision by management to fire 20 creative staff.[38] Ward felt this was unjustified, and quit rather than fire any of them.[39] He would also describe being influenced to leave due to TSR's sale to Wizards of the Coast, which saw the company move headquarters to Washington.[40]

Later work[]

From 1997 onward he worked for other other games, including collectable card games. For two years he lived in Dallas, TX,[2] where he worked on the first seven sets of the Dragonball Z collectable card game, before being let go in late 2001 or 2002.[41]

He was president of Fast Forward Games, later Fast Forward Entertainment. The company published several D20 System sourcebooks between 2001 and 2004, as well as the 25th anniversary Metamorphosis Alpha 3rd edition in 2002.[42][43] The company's D20 System products were published during a glut of D20 products, and received generally poor reviews.[44]

The company also fell foul of Open Game License violations in 2003, and was forced to withdraw from sale four sourcebooks which featured monsters from Monster Manual II (3e) (2002), the names of D&D deities, and the name Drawmij.[45]

In 2005, he was working on a new version of Metamorphosis Alpha.[46] The game's fourth edition was published as a 176 page hardcover by Mudpuppy Games on October 9, 2006.[47]

Later that month he published his novel Midshipwizard Halcycon Blithe (2006), followed by Dragonfrigate Wizard Halcyon Blithe (2007). A third in the series was planned, but ultimately not greenlit by the publisher.[48][49]

On July 11, 2009, Signal Fire Studios announced an upcoming fifth edition of Metamorphosis Alpha, based on the Dungeons & Dragons 4th edition rules and using the Game System License.[50] It was delayed from its original launch date of January 2010,[51] ultimately seeing release in September 2016, using the System 26 game rules instead of D&D 4e.

In August 2009, it was announced that Ward would start a new RPG company with fellow TSR veterans Frank Mentzer and Tim Kask.[52]

Early in 2010, Ward began to suffer from health issues.[53] On September 1, 2010, Tim Kask announced that Jim Ward suffered from a serious illness, described as a serious neurological disorder.[54][55]

In November 2010, Ward joined Eldritch Enterprises.[56] He continued to receive medical treatment throughout 2011.[57]

Jim Ward passed away on March 18, 2024, aged 72.

Bibliography[]

Original D&D[]

Ward was first credited with Special Thanks on Eldritch Wizardry (1976), alongside Tim Kask.

He was co-author on Gods, Demi-Gods & Heroes (1976).

One of his earliest articles was Strategic Review #3, Deserted Cities of Mars.

He contributed to Dragon Magazine several times, including: Magic and Science, Dragon #1 (Jun 1976), p.8, Tombs & Crypts, Dragon #9 (Sep 1977), p.25, Quarterstaff Fighting Rules, Dragon #11 (Dec 1977), p.26, Some Thoughts On the Speed of a Lightning Bolt, Dragon #12 (Feb 1978), p.12, Notes From a Semi-Successful D&D Player, Dragon #13 (Apr 1978), p.30, Monty Haul and His Friends At Play, Dragon #14 (May 1978), p.21, Monty and the German High Command, Dragon #15 (Jun 1978), p.6, The Wandering Monster, Dragon #15 (Jun 1978), p.7, The Thursday Night D&D Game for Monty and the Boys, Dragon #16 (Jul 1978), p.12, Game Balance, Dragon #16 (Jul 1978), p.36, A Wizard With a Difference, Dragon #17 (Aug 1978), p.12, Boredom and the Average D&D Dungeon, Dragon #17 (Aug 1978), p.24, Guidelines for Mixing Campaigns, Dragon #18 (Sep 1978), p.22, and Monty Strikes Back, Dragon #21 (Dec 1978), p.26.

Basic D&D[]

Ward is credited in AC10 Bestiary of Dragons and Giants (1987) with the sections "How to Use This Book", "The Haunted Helm", and "The Questing Barbarian". An advertisement for the book in Dungeon #8 (Nov/Dec 1987) depicted his name on the cover of the book, but it would not be credited as such in the final release.

He is thanked in the Basic Set (Holmes) (1977), the Basic Set (B/X) (1981), and the Rules Cyclopedia (1991).

He contributed the Dragon Magazine articles Damage Permanency, Dragon #23 (Mar 1979), p.19, Monty Haul and the Best of Freddie, Dragon #24 (Apr 1979), p.42, Monty Strikes Back, Dragon #28 (Aug 1979), p.37, The Mansion Of Mad Professor Ludlow, Dragon #42 (Oct 1980), The Latest From Lake Geneva, Dragon #128 (Dec 1987), p.34, A Volume of Oerthly Delights, Dragon #129 (Jan 1988), p.57, Turning On the TSR/SSI Connection, Dragon #133 (May 1988), p.42, Readers Speak Out on Greyhawk Adventures, Dragon #135 (Jul 1988), p.30, The Game Wizards: Angry Mothers From Heck, Dragon #154 (Feb 1990), p.9, The Game Wizards: Angry Mothers Part 2, Dragon #158 (Jun 1990), p.8, The Game Wizards, Dragon #174 (Oct 1991), p.38, Join the Electronic Warriors!, Dragon #197 (Sep 1993), p.67, Think Big -- In Miniature!, Dragon #197 (Sep 1993), p.15, Games of Imagination, Dragon #200 (Dec 1993), p.81, and First Quest, Dragon #203 (Mar 1994), p.8.

From Dungeon #21 (Jan/Feb 1990) he is credited as Publisher.

AD&D 1st edition[]

Jim Ward co-wrote Deities & Demigods (1e) (1980), the book later known as Legends & Lore (1e) (1984), doing the bulk of the research on topics. He wrote Greyhawk Adventures (1988) for the World of Greyhawk setting, and co-wrote the Dragonlance solo quest Gnomes-100, Dragons-0.

Ward received special thanks for his feedback on numerous books. They include the AD&D Players Handbook (1e) (1978), reviewing the first draft of Manual of the Planes (1e) (1987), and inspiration for S3 Expedition to the Barrier Peaks (1980).

His TSR magazine contributions included The Druid, Polyhedron #20 (1984), and A New World to Conquer, Polyhedron #59 (May 1991).

He was a playtester on A1 Slave Pits of the Undercity (1980), S4 The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth (1982), and others.

AD&D 2nd edition[]

Jim Ward was highly active in the Role-Playing Games Association, and contributed A Tale Within a Tale to LC1 Gateway to Ravens Bluff, The Living City (1989).

Ward was thanked in the Player's Handbook (2e) (1989) and Dungeon Master Guide (2e) (1989) for his work on Legends & Lore (2e) (1990) and Greyhawk Adventures (1988). He was also thanked in the Dark Suns Dragon Kings (1992), the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting (2e) (1993), City of Splendors (1994), Forgotten Realms Adventures (1990) and numerous others. He is credited with concept on How the Mighty are Fallen (1996), and with playtesting on such works as The Great Khan Game (1989) and Greyhawk Wars (1991).

He is credited with "guidance" on Monstrous Manual (1993), "spiritual guidance" on Spelljammer: AD&D Adventures in Space (1989), and "more spiritual guidance" on The Legend of Spelljammer (1991). He is acknowledged in Wizard's Spell Compendium Volume One (1996) as "James M. Ward, who smiles a lot."

His magazine contributions during this period include Jammin, Dungeon #21 (Jan/Feb 1990).

He co-wrote the Forgotten Realms novels Pool of Radiance, Pools of Darkness, and Pool of Twilight; and The Paladins.

Other works[]

Ward's most notable non-D&D works were Metamorphosis Alpha (1976) and Gamma World (1978) sci-fi roleplaying games.

He wrote the Metamorphosis Alpha articles Notes on the Androids on the Starship Warden, Dragon #4 (Dec 1976), p.10, Some Ideas Missed In Metamorphosis Alpha, Dragon #5 (Mar 1977), p.10, Tribal Society and Hierarchy..., Dragon #5 (Mar 1977), p.10, Further Rules Modifications & Clarifications, Dragon #6 (Apr 1977), p.15, Still More Additions to MA, Dragon #8 (Jul 1977), p.26, Robots As Players In Metamorphosis Alpha, Dragon #14 (May 1978), p.12, and The Total Person In Metamorphosis Alpha, Dragon #14 (May 1978), p.24.

His Gamma World credits include GW9 The Delta Fragment.[58]

For Gamma World, he wrote several Dragon articles: Gamma World First Report: Setting Up the Campaign, Dragon #18 (Sep 1978), p.20, A Part of Gamma World Revisited, Dragon #25 (May 1979), p.5, Judging and You!, Dragon #25 (May 1979), p.7, A World Gone Mad, Dragon #86 (Jun 1984), p.74, Starquestions, Dragon #86 (Jun 1984), p.83, A Field Guide To Lunar Mutants, Dragon #87 (Jul 1984), p.80, Before the Dark Years, Dragon #88 (Aug 1984), p.71, Out of the Sun..., Dragon #101 (Sep 1985), p.80, and Gamma III, Dragon #117 (Jan 1987), p.76. He also wrote numerous articles for Gamma World in Polyhedron magazine, including Gamma World Science Fantasy, RPGA News #1 (Summer 1981), Interview with Jim Ward, RPGA News #3 (Winter 1981), Mutants, RPGA News #3 (Winter 1981), the Dispel Confusion section beginning in Polyhedron #9 (1982), Cryptic Alliance of the Bi-month beginning in Polyhedron #16 (1984).

He also wrote Snit Smashing, Dragon #10 (Oct 1977), p.15, On the Derivation of Snit Sub-Species, Dragon #11 (Dec 1977), p.15, Snit's Revenge, Dragon #11 (Dec 1977), p.33, Planet Busters, Dragon #64 (Aug 1982), p.37, The Game Wizards, Dragon #189 (Jan 1993), p.64, The Game Wizards, Dragon #195 (Jul 1993), p.34, The Game Wizards, Dragon #207 (Jul 1994), p.56,

Ward also wrote numerous adventure gamebooks. He wrote TSR's One-On-One gamebook series: #1 Castle Arcania, #2 Battle for the Ancient Robot One-On-One Gamebook,[59], #3 Revenge of the Red Dragon,[60] #4 Challenge of Druid's Grove,[citation needed] #5 Dragonsword of Lankhmar,[61] #6 The Amber Sword of World's End,[citation needed] #7 Warlords,[citation needed] #8 Fantastic Four vs Doctor Doom in The Doomsday Device,[62] #9 Daredevil and Kingpin in The King Takes a Dare,[63] and #10 Dragonwand of Krynn. He co-wrote the Marvel Super Heroes Game-book #3, The Wolverine in Night of the Wolverine,[62] and Catacombs Gamebook #1: Faerie Mound of Dragonkind. He wrote the Lazer Tag Official Live Action Game Handbook[64] and Lazer Tag Official Tournament Book.[63] He co-wrote The Game Buyer's Price Guide.[60]

Third-party works[]

Ward co-wrote Treasure Quests, a short adventure anthology released in March 2002.[65]

He is credited with additional design on Sovereign Press' Sovereign Stone Campaign Sourcebook (2001), and in design for their Marauders of the Wolf: The Dwarves (2003).[66]

From 2001 to 2004 he is credited with writing, designing, or both on sourcebooks for his company Fast Forward Entertainment, including Swords of Evil (2002), Occult Items of Power (2002), Green Races (2002), Encyclopedia of Demons & Devils II (2002), Enchanted Locations (2002), Dungeon World (2002), Sundered Reaches (2003), Secrets of the Enemy Capital (2003), The Monstrous Fighter Compendium (2003), Encyclopedia of Villains (2003), Encyclopedia of Prestige Classes (2003), Encyclopedia of Angels (2003), Devlilish Devices (2003), Devil's Player Guide (2003), DemonWars Gazetteer (2003), Demon Wars Enchanted Locations (2003), Deadliest Creatures Tome (2003), Cloud Warriors (2003), Annotated Player's Handbook (2003), and Encyclopedia of Exotic Weapons (2004).[66]

In 2005 he worked on the Serenity RPG for Margaret Weis Productions.[66]

In July 2013 he announced Beneath the Dome, an adventure module for Troll Lord Games.[67]

Quotes[]

  • "One of the core beliefs of Jim Ward is that I have to have happy endings. I much prefer Roger Zelanzy over Steven King any day just because of that fact."[68]
  • "What this tells me is that seriously people should try to work as hard at enjoying themselves as they do at their jobs. Plan for fun, have fun, and then have some more fun and that is pretty close to the meaning of something."[69]
  • "Gary is correct about D20. It's become a game for accountants and not gamers. While it can handle many unusual gaming situations, I think they have stripped the "story and heart" out of the game and that makes me very sad."[70]
  • "Gary is also being too nice when he calls METAMORPHOSIS ALPHA elegant. It's a fun game with lots of potential but it's much more an Apollo space capsule as opposed to a space shuttle. It will get you there, but you are going to have to hit the side of the machine a few times to make it work properly."[70]
  • "MA [Metamorphosis Alpha] is purposely lethal. I wanted it to be a challenge for the experienced gamer. Gary Gygax and his group had no trouble surviving for years playing on the Warden. Other people at conventions haven't had as much luck. People enjoy a challenge and MA was made for those adventurous people."[71]
  • "I would like to bring up a topic that is near and dear to my heart; being a Monty Haul type of referee. I have always enjoyed giving out a great deal of treasure with my encounters. I understand all of the discussions about masses of magic and treasure spoiling a campaign, but I have never experienced that type of spoilage. I would appreciate reader's thoughts on this topic. Gamers seem to like and appreciate a rich campaign, do they also like a game where they have to scramble even for a +1 sword?"[72]
  • "To my mind it is the duty of the Game Master to present the material and present the situations in such detail that his players will responsibly know how to react. When I played in Gary Gygax’s game one day he took us to Kong Island. When faced with a thirty foot tall gorilla we knew exactly what to do. We ran! Players at conventions rarely run. Players at conventions think nothing about throwing a powerful grenade with a forty foot blast radius in a thirty foot room."[73]

Reception and influence[]

Namesakes[]

Jim Ward is the namesake of the archmage Drawmij, from the World of Greyhawk setting. The name is a simple reversing of his name.

Reversed or near-reversed character names were common in Gary Gygax's original D&D group (e.g. Xagyg, Yrag, Robilar/Bilarro). Ward's first D&D character was named Bombadil spelled backwards, (variously reported as spelled Leledebmob or Lidabmob). When he forgot an important magic item, Gygax allowed him to invent a spell to summon an item, named Drawmij's instant summons after Jim Ward himself. Contrary to popular belief, Drawmij was an NPC in Gygax's campaign, but was not Ward's original character.[74][75][76]

Drawmij is in turn the namesake of the spell Drawmij's instant summons, as well as the less well known Drawmij's adventurer's luck, Drawmij's beast of burden, Drawmij's beneficient polymorph, Drawmij's breath of life, Drawmij's flying feat, Drawmij's handy timepiece, Drawmij's instant exit, Drawmij's iron sack, Drawmij's light step, Drawmij's marvelous shield, Drawmij's merciful metamorphosis, Drawmij's protection from nonmagical gas, Drawmij's scent mask, Drawmij's swift mount, Drawmij's tool box, and the parody spell Drawmij's instant death, which instantly kills Drawmij. He is also the namesake of a magic item, Drawmij's undersea apparatus.

The Dramidj Ocean is also named for him. The name Drawmij is also given to Drawmij Koehlanna in PHBR8 The Complete Book of Elves (1992).

Reception and accolades[]

In Polyhedron #3, an interview with Ward described him as one whose "ideas are renowned among the TSR fold. His ideas often result in first-class products. How does he do it?"[1]

In Dungeons Master 4th Edition for Dummies, Richard Baker listed Jim Ward as one of 21 "people of exceptional creativity" responsible for D&D's success.

In the D&D 5th edition core rulebooks, James Ward is one of six people credited as creator of Original Dungeons & Dragons, alongside Gary Gygax, Dave Arneson, Brian Blume, and Don Kaye.

External links[]

References[]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 RPGA Interview with Jim Ward, RPGA News #3 (Winter 1981), p.6-12.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Wlll met, I've lived in Elkhorn most of my life. I graduated in '69. Dan and I went to school together, but didn't get along. I worked in Dallas for two years when I wrote the Dragon Ball Z card game. I currently live in the northwest end of town by Saint Pat's school." Q&A with James M. Ward, page 4. Dragonsfoot, May 24, 2005.
  3. ↑ "thanks for asking the question and laughing at my salary in 1980. When I started at Marals grocery store as a stock boy I was making .99. I started my new teaching job at West Grant High School at $9,200." Q&A with James M. Ward, page 19. Dragonsfoot, January 9, 2006.
  4. ↑ First Quest, Dragon #203 (Mar 1994), p.8.
  5. ↑ Dragon #203 recalls that the number was five books. In Ben Riggs' Slaying the Dragon (2022), based on interviews with Ward, it is reported as seven books.
  6. ↑ S3 Expedition to the Barrier Peaks (1980), p.2.
  7. ↑ "In those first days of role-playing the poly dice weren't as available as they are now. I also wanted to do something at least slightly different than D&D was doing. So three six siders seemed like a good idea to me." Q&A with James M. Ward, page 14. Dragonsfoot, September 12, 2005.
  8. ↑ Polyhedron #7 (1982), p.5.
  9. ↑ James M. Ward Spotlight Interview, Dragon #393 (Nov 2010).
  10. ↑ "He is a PC I have run for years and years. He was first created by me to run in Gary's Tomb of horrors in the Greyhawk campaign. Gary wanted some thieves to try the module and I made Ren 'o The Blade. He was a midlevel thief with a +2 cloak of protection, a +2 dagger, and those very nice gloves of dexterity. Needless to say I barely made it out alive from the Tomb of Horrors." Q&A with James M. Ward, page 94. Dragonsfoot, October 3, 2013.
  11. ↑ "When I was at TSR I tried hard to put a Ren, Wren, Renn, and various other Ren's in all the products I wrote. There are DRAGON and DUNGEON magazine rens, there are RPGA Rens, there are AD&D and D&D Rens, so you are going to find lots of them in searches all over the place." Q&A with James M. Ward, page 18. Dragonsfoot, December 21, 2005.
  12. ↑ "Gary did his share, I'd say I did 75% of the work, certainly all the good stuff." Q&A with James M. Ward, page 13. Dragonsfoot, August 16, 2005.
  13. ↑ Q&A with James M. Ward, page 68. Dragonsfoot, January 3, 2011.
  14. ↑ In Dragonsfoot forum posts, Ward variously remembers his salary as $13,500, $13,700, and $13,800.
  15. ↑ "I always told them that I would come work for the company as soon as they could pay my teaching salary. I wrote METAMORPHOSIS ALPHA & GODS, DEMI-GODS, & HEROES with a lot of help from the TSR staff. Finally, in 1980 they could afford my 13,700 salary, but they brought me on into the sales department as the inventory controller (go figure on that one?????). In my free time I was still writing product for them. But I helped with the sales and marketing of the company with my teaching degree working into text writing." Q&A with James M. Ward, page 88. Dragonsfoot, March 18, 2013.
  16. ↑ Curmudgeon in the Cellar 94 2m 40s. Tim Kask, 2019.
  17. ↑ "Frank's penguin is pretty darn cool. The penguin thing is fun.A long time ago a young boy asked me to autograph a small plastic penguin toy. Then the next day that same boy auctioned it off at a Winter Revel convention. It was going for about two bucks but I was so outraged that I bid. The crowd thought this was amusing and bid the stupid signed toy up to about 19 buck, sigh. I bought it and threw it away, but from then on at TSR I was the penguin dude. Years later I was still getting penguin cards." Q&A with James M. Ward, page 88. Dragonsfoot, March 26, 2013.
  18. ↑ Polyhedron #7 (1982), p.15.
  19. ↑ Polyhedron #13 (1983).
  20. ↑ Polyhedron #14 (1983), p.19.
  21. ↑ "Unfortunately that train couldn't last and in 1984 nothing was selling and TSR went from 388 employees to 86. I was working in the book department coordinating all the contracts for books. I had just been given a way cool award for personally making TSR two million dollars from my products in a year. I thought I would be working for TSR forever. I fell in the third of five purges as 55 people were laid off on April 4th 1984. So to keep paying my bills I invented two new types of game books, the ONE-ON-ONE adventure where two readers each read a book connected to the other book and the CATACOMB book where the picture on a page drives the action of the story. These ideas had been out there in the market place, but they weren't translated into the D&D/AD&D game system until I came along." Q&A with James M. Ward, page 88. Dragonsfoot, March 18, 2013.
  22. ↑ The exact number of layoffs cited varies between Wards' posts. The original number of employees was 388 or 386; the third round laid off 55 or 50 layoffs; and TSR was ultimately reduced to either 76 or 86. Colin McComb recalls the date as April 12, 1984.
  23. ↑ "After 16 months of writing lots of those the powers that be decided I was making way too much money as a freelance writer and that they would rather give me insurance and a salary than royalties. I came back on at the beginning of the Lazer Tag craze and wrote game rules for playing lazer tag." "It was a stormy time for TSR and there were a lot of management problems. Soon I was a Director of product helping to get products out on time. I'm proud to say with the help of the excellent TSR design and editing staff the company went from 6 months late on individual products to six months early on product." Q&A with James M. Ward, page 88. Dragonsfoot, March 18, 2013.
  24. ↑ Q&A with James M. Ward, page 46. Dragonsfoot, April 4, 2009.
  25. ↑ Polyhedron #26 (1985).
  26. ↑ Polyhedron #28 (1986).
  27. ↑ Polyhedron #31 (1986).
  28. ↑ Polyhedron #33 (1987).
  29. ↑ Polyhedron #35 (1987).
  30. ↑ Dragon #186 (Oct 1992), p.79.
  31. ↑ Polyhedron #88 (Oct 1993).
  32. ↑ 32.0 32.1 Polyhedron #103 (Jan 1995), p.4.
  33. ↑ "Assassins left as a design choice by Zeb Cook. I didn't care one way or another in the creation of AD&D 2nd edition. I think he did it to get a rise out of people." Q&A with James M. Ward, page 2. Dragonsfoot, May 2, 2005.
  34. ↑ The Book of Exalted Deeds, Polyhedron #101 (Nov 1994), p.6.
  35. ↑ Q&A with James M. Ward, page 45. Dragonsfoot, Feb 14, 2009.
  36. ↑ Polyhedron #104 (Feb 1995).
  37. ↑ Slaying the Dragon (2022), "The Warden Departs", p.217.
  38. ↑ In a blog post, he recalls rather the number as thirty designers and editors.
  39. ↑ "After Gary left the company the executives at TSR, except for myself of course, didn't have the slightest idea what their employees did or how hard they worked. They had all sorts of bone head ideas on what should be made. I worked hard and argued with them a lot so that royally stupid products didn't get produced. Inspite of that we still made some dumb things. The most stupid thing they wanted to do was fire 20 of the creatives for no good reason. I drew the line there when I couldn't talk them out of the idea. I liked and respected all the people in my department and quit myself rather than fire one of them. It has cost me a lot over the years, but I never looked back except to miss all of them, Colin included." Q&A with James M. Ward, page 45. Dragonsfoot, February 14, 2009.
  40. ↑ "I had the pleasure of writing Metamorphosis Alpha a good while ago. I also had the pleasure of working for TSR for 20 + years. I left because the company went to Washington and I am a Wisconsin boy forever." Q&A with James M. Ward, page 1. Dragonsfoot, April 29, 2005.
  41. ↑ "I had the pleasure of working on the first 7 sets. Then after 9/11 because I kept disagreeing with my supervisor I was let go."Q&A with James M. Ward, page 102. Dragonsfoot, August 13, 2014.
  42. ↑ "I was the president of that company and wrote a great many of the products. Fast Forward didn't make a profit and we had to close its doors." Q&A with James M. Ward, page 4. Dragonsfoot, May 25, 2005.
  43. ↑ Fast Forward Entertainment at Board Game Geek
  44. ↑ Fast Forward Entertainment: Best Books? RPG.net, Mar 11, 2010.
  45. ↑ WotC nails Fast Forward for D20 violations. RPG.net, Apr 14, 2003.
  46. ↑ "I've been working on the newest version with a few folks in Australia including a real smart fellow named Craig Brain. I'm hoping to get the PDF for sale this next spring." Q&A with James M. Ward, page 5. Dragonsfoot, May 30, 2005.
  47. ↑ https://www.amazon.com/Metamorphosis-Alpha-4th-MPY1000-Wards/dp/0976360128/
  48. ↑ Q&A with James M. Ward, page 38. Dragonsfoot, June 3, 2008.
  49. ↑ Q&A with James M. Ward, page 39. Dragonsfoot, June 3, 2008.
  50. ↑ Action-Adventure Science Fiction Returns with Metamorphosis Alpha. Archived July 7, 2009.
  51. ↑ "The new MA is a blending of 4th edition D&D with the excitement and unusualness of Metamorphosis Alpha. It's still coming out in late Spring or early Summer. There will be an update on the MA forums if you want to know more." Q&A with James M. Ward, page 55. Dragonsfoot, February 1, 2010.
  52. ↑ Back to the Future. Grognardia, Aug 20, 2009.
  53. ↑ "For the past few months I've been very ill and had no idea why. Finally, after some exhaustive tests it seems I needed to get my gall bladder out." Q&A with James M. Ward, page 58. Dragonsfoot, June 11, 2010.
  54. ↑ Way OT---One of our own needs your help. Dragonsfoot, Sep 1, 2010.
  55. ↑ Friends of Starship Warden. Archived from the original on November 25, 2010.
  56. ↑ "I have had some great news in being accepted into the Eldritch Enterprises company. I can't think of better people to work with than Frank and the others. We've just started planning and the projects we are working on are wonderful. You readers will be among the first to find out about them as time goes on." Q&A with James M. Ward, page 66. Dragonsfoot, November 14, 2010.
  57. ↑ Q&A with James M. Ward, page 76. Dragonsfoot, November 12, 2011.
  58. ↑ Previews, Dragon #122 (Jun 1987), p.60.
  59. ↑ Dragon #98 (Jun 1985).
  60. ↑ 60.0 60.1 Dragon #101 (Sep 1985).
  61. ↑ Previews, Dragon #106 (Feb 1986).
  62. ↑ 62.0 62.1 Previews, Dragon #115 (Nov 1986).
  63. ↑ 63.0 63.1 Previews, Dragon #119 (Mar 1987).
  64. ↑ Previews, Dragon #117 (Jan 1987).
  65. ↑ Dungeon #91 (Mar/Apr 2002), p.12.
  66. ↑ 66.0 66.1 66.2 James M. Ward at the Pen & Paper database. Archived from the original on December 15, 2008.
  67. ↑ Q&A with James M. Ward, page 91. Dragonsfoot, July 8, 2013.
  68. ↑ Q&A with James M. Ward, page 1. Dragonsfoot, May 1, 2005.
  69. ↑ Q&A with James M. Ward, page 6. Dragonsfoot, June 25, 2005.
  70. ↑ 70.0 70.1 Q&A with James M. Ward, page 28. Dragonsfoot, July 4, 2007.
  71. ↑ Q&A with James M. Ward, page 54. Dragonsfoot, January 9, 2010.
  72. ↑ Q&A with James M. Ward, page 67. Dragonsfoot, December 14, 2010.
  73. ↑ Q&A with James M. Ward, page 79. Dragonsfoot, March 8, 2012.
  74. ↑ "My fantasy name, Drawmij has a bit of nasty history. Gary did lots of reverse names in his gaming and gaming sessions. Indeed I was in a dungeon and the group needed a magic item I owned that was back at the inn where I lived. My character name was Bombidell spelled backward. So at a whim Gary let me create that spell and use that spell and I did indeed save the day. So a powerful wizard character was instantly born in the world of Greyhawk. He seems to appear every once in awhile in Greyhawk city, quite separate from what ever Leledibmob was doing in the city of Greyhawk and the wonderful Greyhawk castle." Q&A with James M. Ward, page 98. Dragonsfoot, January 25, 2014.
  75. ↑ "Just for fun, I would like to hear what your favorite fantasy RPG character is. One that you have worked up from low levels. My entry is Lidabmob the 14th level human wizard. I grew him up in Gary Gygax's campaign, which wasn't an easy thing to do. He has lots of magic items because Gary had to test out his game system in the old days and I was one of the lucky ones that didn't get too many cursed items." Q&A with James M. Ward, page 53. Dragonsfoot, November 26, 2009.
  76. ↑ "Bombadil was the character who made up many different types of Drawmij spells. Whenever I thought up a new useful spell it became a Drawmij spell. Drawmij also became a Greyhawk city father who was useful for player characters needing spells of a higher level than they could cast." Q&A with James M. Ward, page 72. Dragonsfoot, August 5, 2011.
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