David L. Pulver (born 2 November 1965 in Kingston, Ontario) is a Canadian freelance writer and game designer, author of more than fifty role-playing game rulebooks and supplements, including the award-winning Transhuman Space.
Pulver has a History BA from Queen's University.[1]
In a 2010 interview, Pulver stated that although he has been doing work for Steve Jackson Games (SJG) "ever since I became a freelance writer," he also worked for TSR, Game Designer's Workshop, West End Games, Iron Crown Enterprises, and White Wolf Publishing, before his significant contribution to the Guardians of Order catalogue. He is a fan of anime and manga.[2]
In 1989 Pulver designed the first version of GURPS Ultra-Tech, an equipment guide intended to be used with science fiction settings.[3]: 107 Pulver contributed adventures to several anthologies published for GURPS, and also designed GURPS Psionics (1991) followed by GURPS Vehicles (1993). The latter featured a mathematically complex vehicle-construction system,[3]: 109 allowing the creation of vehicles ranging from a stone-age canoe to faster-than-light starship. This system was later simplified for GURPS Traveller (especially GURPS Traveller: Starships and GURPS Traveller: Ground Forces) and GURPS World War 2 (including GURPS WW2: Motorpool). The design rules in GURPS Robots (1997) and GURPS Mecha (1997) are fully compatible with it. Pulver also produced two original game settings for SJG at this time: GURPS Reign of Steel (1996) and GURPS Technomancer (1998).
In November 1998, fellow Canadian Mark MacKinnon brought Pulver on to Guardians of Order, and Pulver took the lead in developing Big Eyes, Small Mouth from its simple beginnings to become a more complex game, including a skill system and vehicle rules.[3]: 335 Pulver was at the same time working on additional licensed games, including The Dominion Tank Police Role-Playing Game (1999), Demon City Shinjuku Role-Playing Game (2000), and Tenchi Muyo! (2000).[3]: 336 Pulver and John R. Phythyon, Jr. designed the gangster samurai game Ghost Dog (2000), using the Tri-stat system and based on the film Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai.[3]: 336 Continuing his interest in science-fiction, he also wrote Centauri Knights (2001), the first original setting from Guardians of Order.[3]: 336 Pulver continued to write for Guardians almost to the point when they ceased publication, notably contributing to their anthologies Ex Machina (2004) and Dreaming Cities (2005).
Meanwhile, Pulver continued his 20-year relationship with Steve Jackson Games. He contributed to GURPS Traveller and GURPS World War 2 lines, and created Transhuman Space (2002), a new science fiction setting and game line for GURPS.[3]: 111 Pulver assisted Sean Punch with the fourth edition of GURPS beginning in September 2002, and with releases from 2004 to 2009.[3]: 112 His vehicle design rules for the 4th edition of GURPS were released in GURPS Spaceships (2007).
Steve Jackson and David Pulver coauthored a novella, Thera Awakening, that was distributed with the Interplay computer game Stonekeep. This novella describes the backstory and history of the Stonekeep world and characters and was completed before the game was finished.
Pulver was the guest of honor at the 1992 U-Con gaming convention (held annually at the University of Michigan).
