James Wallis
Ineffably affable, James Wallis has been writing games and games-related media since the 1980s. Unfortunately he sold the copyright of most of it to other people (the Warhammer novels, the Warhammer FRP books, the Sonic the Hedgehog novels and gamebooks, the Paranoia RPG reboot, the movie and TV tie-ins, the books for Palladium, Penguin and Dorling Kindersley, the game he designed for Cadburys Chocolate, and lots of stuff he still can't talk about) so this page is a bit skimpy.
What you need to know: in 1998 he started the storygame revolution by accident with The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen, the first GM-less rules-light story-first post-RPG. Wil Wheaton describes it as "one of the most insanely fun roleplaying experiences I have ever had." People generally agree that the third edition is the best one, and you can get a copy over on the right.
Alas Vegas is a passion project, a game that wouldn't get out of James's head until he wrote and published it. A whole bunch of his game-designer friends got involved and it turned into quite a party. Check it out, if only for stunning art by Dennis Detwiller and John Coulthart.
James is working on new RPG material, and he's also one-third of the Ludonarrative Dissidents podcast with Ross Payton and Greg Stolze, doing deep dives into an array of notable RPGs, now on its third season. If you like this sort of game, you should give it a listen.
