Tim Kask

Tim Kask
Born	Jan 14, 1949
Nationality	United States
Occupation	Retired Former editor and writer
Years active	1975-

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Wikipedia	Tim Kask

Timothy J. Kask is one of the original staff who worked with Gary Gygax on Dungeons & Dragons. He is best known as the first editor of Dragon Magazine from issue #1 to #36, and a contributor to the earliest Dungeons & Dragons works.

Kask is also the namesake of the Sword of Kas.

He is variously credited as Tim Kask and T.J. Kask, and under the alias Omar Kwalish.

Life and career

Early life

Kask was born on Jan 14, 1949, in Moline, Illinois. He attended St. Mary's Catholic School.

He discovered an interest in simulation games in 1961, when a friend named Mike Gengler in sixth grade introduced him to Avalon Hill's board game D-Day, which he purchased at Carlson Brothers for $3.95 or $4.95. The two played this game for three years. Kask's gaming hobby waned in high school, when he pursued other interests.

Military service

Kask served in the US Navy from 1967 to 1971. He spent four years active duty and two years inactive. During boot camp, he volunteered for a position of mail Petty Officer, which allowed him a regular opportunity to take a smoke break.

In his first year in the Navy, while stationed at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, Kask and fellow sailor Ed Studer purchased Avalon Hill's 1914 from a bookstore in Oak Harbor, Washington. The two played the game in marathon sessions on a table in the laundry room, which sometimes ran from 5:30pm Friday to 8am Monday, without sleep. The pair played at least six or seven complete games of what Kask described as "one of the longest, most tedious games ever devised". After a year, Studer was transferred somewhere else, and Kask did not play the game with anyone else.

During 1969, Kask was stationed overseas in the Vietnam War, serving aboard the aircraft carrier USS Ranger for ten months. The crew played Avalon Hill's Acquire, going through three sets. Kask also played Feudal. Kask served in flight ops. Due to overcrowding, Kask's bunk was over a noisy conduit carrying an arresting cable; it was described as unlivable when planes were landing.

Already a science fiction fan, Kask was introduced to fantasy by another sailor, who gave him a copy of the first Conan anthology and a bootleg copy of The Hobbit. Kask read The Hobbit some months later during a period of convalescence. Kask was stationed at Millington, TN, where he attended Avionics School.

Kask reported sighting UFOs on three occasions, spotting fast-moving objects on radar which the crew were unable to get a lock, and which startled the Russian trawlers who were shadowing Kask's ship. However, he declined to speculate what they were, only to note that they did not resemble ball lightning. During the Vietnam War, he was also tasked with removing or destroying advanced technology in downed aircraft, to prevent it from falling into enemy hands.

During his time in the Navy, he became an expert in changing M2 machine gun barrels and ammunition belts, and once survived a narrow miss when a piece of shrapnel impacted fourteen inches from his head. However, he has largely declined to tell his war stories. In his last year in the Navy, he married his wife Cheryl.

College

Following his service in the Navy, Kask spent the years 1971 to 1973 employed in a news agency. He was able to read a large number of science fiction and fantasy magazines, having ready access to stripped issues which retailers returned unsold to the magazine distributor for credit.

Kask subsequently studied Communications at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, where he helped to grow the university's gaming group, renaming it the Strategic Games Society. He arrived at Carbondale shortly before the fall 1973 semester and studied for two and a quarter years. He was the group's only Dungeon Master for the first year. Kask attended the university at the same time as Tom Wham and Jake Jaquet, who would later go on to work for TSR.

A long-time board game enthusiast, Kask was introduced to miniatures by college friend Tom Wham, eventually acquiring a significant army of fantasy and ancient miniatures. In late 1973 or early 1974, Kask called Dungeons & Dragons creator Gary Gygax to ask about the Chainmail miniatures game, after finding his phone number by calling directory inquiries. The two talked for over an hour, and such calls became frequent. Gygax invited Kask to GenCon VII in 1974, at which Dungeons & Dragons was launched. After two victories in Ancients miniatures games, Kask played in a D&D game run by Rob Kuntz, in which he played a dwarf who ended up frozen in carbonite and sliced up by lasers. He subsequently bought the original brown Dungeons & Dragons box set. Gygax also suggested that he could offer Kask a position at TSR as an editor.

He introduced Dungeons & Dragons to his college group at Carbondale, providing useful playtest feedback to TSR in monthly phonecalls. Around Christmas 1974, he started a new campaign titled the Ruins of Kwalishar, named for its villain Kwalish, best known as the namesake of the Apparatus of Kwalish. At this time, Kask worked at a pinball arcade, where he met future TSR co-worker Gary Jaquet.

Tim Kask was one of the first people to use the term "role-playing", and may have been the one who coined the term to explain D&D to his players. The term initially referred to the idea of taking on a role in a play. However, he was uncertain if he originally invented the metaphor.

In 1975, Kask was an immediate devotee of Ral Partha miniatures.

While in college, Kask worked on magazines and newspapers. He described himself as an avid journalist, someone who always loved telling news.

He graduated from college in August 1975 with degrees in English and Communications, and minored in military history.

Hiring at TSR

On 1 September 1975, Kask became first full-time employee hired at Tactical Studies Rules, and then TSR Hobbies Inc., following the company's incorporation in July of that year. He received a salary of $100/week, the same as founders Gary Gygax and Brian Blume, although he did not receive royalties. Kask and his family moved to Delavan, 11 miles away from Lake Geneva.

Kask served as TSR periodicals editor beginning with Strategic Review #4 (Winter 1975). The foreword to Eldritch Wizardry, dated 23 April 1976, also gives Kask as TSR Publications Editor. He remained editor of Strategic Review until its final issue, when it was superceded by Dragon Magazine in 1976, of which Kask was also the original editor.

In 1976, TSR acquired Gen Con. Kask, who had previously attended the convention in 1974 and 1975 as a regular attendee, was assigned to work at the convention Gen Con IX, which saw an increase from 900 to 1,300 attendees. However, Kask also noted that Gen Con would inflate its visitor numbers by counting total day ticket sales rather than the number of unique visitors, noting that "the other guys were doing it too".

Kask worked as an editor on several of the earliest Dungeons & Dragons supplements: Supplement II: Blackmoor (1975), Eldritch Wizardry (1976), Gods, Demi-Gods & Heroes (1976), and Swords & Spells (1976). He is also thanked for various contributions to those books. He is acknowledged in the AD&D core rulebooks, including the Monster Manual (1e) (1977), Players Handbook (1e) (1978), and Dungeon Masters Guide (1e) (1979), and in the Basic Set (Holmes) (1977) and Basic Set (B/X) (1981). In 2017, Kask noted that in the early days of TSR, much work was done communally and it was difficult to attribute any particular innovation or idea to any one individual staff member.

He made particular contributions to Eldritch Wizardry (1976), which he estimates to consist of 60% his own work. Kask's arduous task involved editing a peach basket of papers written by Dave Arneson, Gary Gygax and Rob Kuntz, containing rules which were confusing, contradictory, and incomplete. Kask threatened that he would quit if ever given such a task again. He takes credit for the introduction of psionics in that book.

In 1976, Kask was given five shares in TSR.

Kask worked with Gary Gygax on the division between Advanced Dungeons & Dragons and Basic Dungeons & Dragons which were published in 1977. Kask recalls that he and Gygax spent a week going over all Original D&D sourcebooks except the mass battle Swords & Spells (1976), and deciding which content was suitable for which edition of the game. The two made Advanced Dungeons & Dragons more challenging, and more codified for tournament play, which were profitable events for TSR; while Basic was made easier for children to play to avoid discouraging them - "that was just good marketing". Kask was responsible for the rule of magic missile automatically hitting, as a miss on a first-level character's only 1st-level spell would be demoralizing.

Kask worked on the the Gamma World RPG in early development, but passed the project on to other writers as he was busy with other editing work.

Kask subsequently withdrew from the game design side of D&D to focus on editing Dragon at the periodicals division, although he took part in playtesting. The druid Jaroo Ashstaff from T1 The Village of Hommlet (1979) was based on character of Kask's in the playtest, nicknamed "Tim the Lusty Druid" in a bawdy song created whenever he missed sessions due to family commitments.

Dragon Magazine

Kask served as editor of Strategic Review from issue #4 in Winter 1975 until the final issue. Kask takes credit for the decision to print the magazine in color.

He then served as the first editor of Strategic Review's successor, Dragon Magazine, from issue #1 (Jun 1976) to #36 (Apr 1980). Gygax's vision for Dragon magazine was to cover a variety of games, not just a "house organ" for TSR's own publications. Kask, an avid board and miniatures gamer, agreed with this vision, sharing a philosophy that "a rising tide lifts all boats". A second magazine, Little Wars, was dedicated to historical miniature games, but after twelve issues folded into Dragon starting from Dragon #22.

Kask's goal as editor was to enlighten the reader with enjoyable information. In 2018, Kask said, "With Dragon, I was telling people about good things. I didn't waste time telling people about bad things, or what I thought was bad." He also shared Gygax's habit of intentionally using obscure English words that required looking in a dictionary.

Kask described suffering from a week of burnout after producing each issue of Dragon, a trait he would later discover that other editors and publishers have also suffered from.

During his tenure as editor, Kask authored the article Civilizations: From High To Low, Dragon #31 (Nov 1979), p.4. Under the alias Omar Kwalish, he wrote What To Do When the Dog Eats Your Dice, Dragon #7 (Jun 1977), p.5.

Kask's son, Zak, was born in 1979.

Departure from TSR

In 1980, TSR directors Brian Blume and Kevin Blume removed Kask from his position as head of TSR's periodicals division. The March 1980 issue of Dragon Magazine was the last to credit him as author. He was offered another role at the same salary. Kask believed the decision was an intentional slight against him, as he often voted against the Blumes at shareholder meetings.

Kask shortly resigned from TSR, effective March 7, 1980. His departure from TSR and Dragon was announced in Dragon #37 (May 1980). According to that issue's editorial, Kask resigned for undisclosed reasons. He was replaced as magazine editor by Jake Jaquet. In 2018, Kask described his reasons for leaving TSR as conflict with Brian Blume. He was also unhappy with the design direction he saw Dungeons & Dragons taking.

Kask later moved to Cincinnati and founded a new magazine known as Adventure Gaming, which ran for 13 issues beginning in July 1981. The publication was initially bankrolled by Ral Partha miniatures, who had confidence in Kask's ability to run an independent magazine. Kask also felt that Ral Partha spent too much on the magazine's graphic design; after they surrendered their 49% stake to Kask following financial trouble, he scaled back the magazine's production values. Unfortunately, the magazine's bottom line was ultimately hurt by the closure of small distributors like hobby shops, which amounted to 40% of the magazine's distribution. In Dragon #54 (Oct 1981), p.2, artist JD Webster announced his decision to move the comic Fineous Fingers from Dragon to Adventure Gaming, citing Kask's departure from Dragon as the reason. Kask would go on to describe his friendship with Webster in Curmudgeon in the Cellar YT5 (2017). The magazine ultimately closed.

Kask was mentioned in Gen Con Miniature Open Winners, Dragon #68 (Dec 1982), p.11-13 as "Tim Kask of Adventure Gaming Magazine", describing an event at Gen Con XV where he awarded magazine subscriptions and a set of Fineous Fingers Figures to winners Steven Meyer Tony Toich. While at the magazine he also became a children's soccer coach, later a soccer referee. Later, he also sold flooring, measured properties for carpeting, and was involved in one of the first paintball groups.

Kask left the RPG industry altogether around 1983 or 1984. He subsequently did not play in any tabletop RPGs until the 2010s.

After his departure from TSR, Kask was credited in the acknowledgements to various sourcebooks for his early contributions to D&D. They include the AD&D 2nd edition The Magic Encyclopedia Volume One (1992), Dungeon Master Guide (2e) (1989), Player's Handbook (2e) (1989), Basic Rules (BECMI) (1983), Master Rules (BECMI) (1985), and Rules Cyclopedia (1991).

Later life

At the age of 53 (circa 2002), Kask returned to college, graduating with Masters of Education from Xavier University in December 2006.

In 2008, Kask played D&D at the Tower of Gygax event at Gen Con 2008, his first time playing or DMing D&D in over twenty years. At this time, aside from playtesting for TSR, Kask also had not played D&D as a player since 1974, when he became his group's DM.

Kask took part in various charity events, including playing in charity games. He describes himself as rarely playing spellcasters or clerics.

From 2007 to 2016, he took part in the Dragonsfoot forum thread Q&A with Tim Kask, where he made over 1,000 replies.

He retired from reaching in 2012. In his retirement, Kask continued to game twice per month with friends. However, this was put on hiatus in 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In September 2017, he began posting a video series to YouTube, titled Curmudgeon in the Cellar. As of 2024, the series has reached over 300 episodes.

Quotes

• "I see nothing wrong whatsoever in fudging a roll, because I'll do it just as likely as I will for a player, as I will for a monster. If it adds to the creative level of a game, and adds to the fun level of the game, go by the seat of your pants. Do what feels right."
• "I will view [Dave Arneson] as the creator of the precursor of the creation that later became D&D as a result of the work of others."
• "Without seeming prideful, I like to think that my style was mostly my own as a result of what I liked and thought others would like; simple and straightforward. I think I can still turn an interesting phrase now and again, and I do plead guilty to the sin of pride in my vocabulary."
• "The difference in the way we played then and the way it has become now is, IMHO, that we enjoyed the playing, the outcome was way secondary."
• "In Ye Olden Days, D&D was all about being a fun thing to do with some friends and fellow gamers. The looser the rules, the more fun the group could have, if the DM was able to play fast and loose and think on his feet (butt, most likely). When all we had was the first three booklets from OD&D, extrapolation and modification was the rule of thumb we all went by. The games were better. Of course, this presumes that you have a first-rate DM."
• "These very newest rules 4.0, should be henceforth know as "The Edition That Requires No Thinking." TETRNT. They have mnaged to suck all of the life-juice right out and create a paper version of a hack & slash video game in which it is unbelievably difficult to be killed."
• "Too many rules bind. Too many rules make players think they can argue. It works that way 'cuz it is MY world."
• "Magic is the one aspect of FRPGs that is the toughest to keep balanced."
• "It is no secret that I am a very vocal standard-bearer for the section of the RPG hobby that feels that fewer rules mean more fun."
• "Donadagohvi."

Reception and influence

In Dragon #100 (Aug 1985), p.3, editor Kim Mohan recalled the first time he met then-editor Tim Kask upon applying to join TSR Periodicals around August 1979. Mohan was "scared stiff" at first, but within a month he had impressed Kask enough to become a full-time employee. Mohan retold the story again in the editorial to Dragon #200 (Dec 1993), and in the Silver Anniversary Collector's Edition (1999), p.22, where he recalled the magazine's early days fondly and expressed his gratitude.

In Dragon #107 (Mar 1986), p.62, art director Roger Raupp credited Kask with giving him his break into the RPG industry, after discovering his work by coincidence when his student magazine was printed in the same building Dragon used for photography.

Dragon #5 (Mar 1977), which Kask edited, was included in The Top 10 Issues of Dragon, Dragon #359 (Sep 2007), p.24, Dragon #5 (Mar 1977).

In RPG Interview with "Jake" Jaquet, Polyhedron #4 (1982), p.6, Gary Jaquet credited Kask with introducing him to the Dungeons & Dragons hobby after the two met by chance at a pinball arcade in 1974. Jaquet described himself as good friend of Kask, and became an assistant editor of Dragon, eventually replacing Kask as editor.

In 2007, Gary Gygax said of all the editors he had had, he missed Kask editing his writing the most.

Links

• Tim Kask on YouTube

References

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