Jeff Dee
Jeff Dee on The Atheist Experience television series, January 4, 2009
Born
United States
Known forFantasy art, illustration

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 eighteen. 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]

Biography

In 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 eighteen.[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

In 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

  1. ^ "People: Jeff Dee". The Atheist Experience. Atheist Community of Austin. Archived from the original on October 4, 2018. Retrieved February 4, 2019.
  2. ^ Jebens, Harley (September 21, 1995). "Game central", Austin American-Statesman, p. 38.
  3. ^ a b c d Shannon Appelcline (2011). Designers & Dragons. Mongoose Publishing. ISBN 978-1-907702-58-7.
  4. ^ "Jeff Dee". blackgate.com. 2010.
  5. ^ "Nemesis Games web site". Nemesisgames.net. Archived from the original on June 6, 2012. Retrieved June 15, 2012.
  6. ^ https://www.blackgate.com/2014/02/25/art-of-the-genre-the-halflings-of-jeff-dee/
  7. ^ Rahe, Emily (July 11, 2001), "Atheists blast faith-based initiative as an unconstitutional "religion tax"", The Washington Times, p. A9[dead link]
  8. ^ "The Atheist Experience". atheist-experience.com. Archived from the original on November 22, 2010. Retrieved August 22, 2007.

External links

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