Tim Rolls The Dice...

Roleplayers are crazy about their dice. Some mathematicians go gaga over them. These two videos are by a toy collector, which is a perspective on dice I hadn't seen before.

Who wrote the Fiend Folio? L-M

 

This batch features the most prolific contributor to the Fiend Folio, Ian Livingstone.

Name	#	Monsters	Author Notes
Lawrence, Julian	2	Doombat, Frost man	Has an NPC write-up in White Dwarf #19.
Livingstone, Ian	15	Assassin bug, Blood hawk, Bloodworm (giant), Bonesnapper, Crabman, Devil (styx), Dune stalker, Eyekiller, Forlarren, Grell, Hook horror, Mite, Phantom stalker, Throat leech, Troll (giant)	Co-founder of Games Workshop and White Dwarf magazine. Author of Dicing with Dragons and many Fighting Fantasy gamebooks. Numerous credits in magazines White Dwarf, Games International, Warlock.   Later went into the video game industry, particularly upper management of Eidos Interactive, where he shepherded franchises like Tomb Raider and Hitman.   A Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire. No foolin’. I suspect this guy is a Tory.
Lockwood, Dean and P.S. Barton	1	Nonafel	Dean Lockwood contributed to one issue of Trollcrusher. No further info on P.S. Barton.
Louth, Nick	8	Hornet (giant), Kamadan, Magnesium spirit, Urchin [x5]	No further info available, unless he’s the same Nick Louth that writes crime thrillers.
MacDonald, Michael	1	Son of Kyuss	This guy has a bunch of designer credits for Mekton and Cyberpunk 2020. Other credits include Dream Park, Castle Falkenstein, Call of Cthulhu, Talislanta, and Teenagers from Outer Space. Articles in two issues of Vortext magazine.
MacDonald, Oliver Charles	2	Cifal, Troll (giant two-headed)	A.k.a. Oliver MacDonald, O.C. MacDonald. Numerous contributions to White Dwarf and Alarums & Excursions.
Martelli, Alessandro	1	Aleax	Alarums & Excursions contributor.
Masters, Philip	4	Iron cobra, Jaculi, Lamia noble, Screaming devilkin	A.k.a. Phil Masters, a GURPS powerhouse with HERO System credits and a few other things here and there. His numerous magazine credits include Adventurer’s Club, Arcane, Dragon, White Dwarf, Interactive Fantasy, The Excellent Prismatic Spray, Journal of the Travellers’ Aid Society, Alarums & Excursions, The Last Province, Pyramid, Roleplayer, Sabledrake webzine, Valkyrie, Shadis, and Visions. Dang.
McDonagh, Michael	1	Fire snake	No further info available.
McDowall, Ian and Douglas Naismith	1	Flumph	For Ian McDowall, see next entry. No further info on Douglas Naismith.
McDowell, Ian	2	Dakon, Guardian daemon	Fiction piece in Ares #1. UPDATE: Author of two fantasy novels, Merlin's Gift and Mordred's Curse.
Mendham, Trevor	1	Guardian familiar	RPGGeek.com: “Trevor has invented many games over the years, most of which were seen only by a few friends and are now lost to history. Whether this is a blessing or a curse for the gaming world is an open question.” Published 3 issues of a magazine called Play It! In 1985. Credits in the periodicals The Beholder, Casus Belli, Chimaera, Imagine, Shire Talk, The Stormlord, and White Dwarf.
Moldvay, Tom	3	Astral Searcher, Protein polymorph, Retriever	My dude.
Morgan, Nigel	1	Skeleton warrior	No further info available.
Morris, Graeme	1	Hoar fox	A big part of TSR UK. Designer credits on modules including UK1-UK5, the classic B10 Night’s Dark Terror, and the super-rare Up the Garden Path, among other things. Credits in periodicals include Imagine, the Fantasy Worlds newsletter, and the [D&D] Players Association News.
Morris, J.D.	2	Flind, Norker	No further info available.
Musson, Roger	11	Achaierai, Al-mi’raj, Blindheim, Crypt thing, Disenchanter, Firetoad, Nilbog, Sandman, Scarecrow, Shocker, Symbiotic jelly	Articles in White Dwarf, Imagine, the wargame magazine Phoenix, [D&D] Players Association News.
Muth, Simon	3	Dark stalker, Skulk, Vortex	One article in the early UK zone Chimaera.

Who wrote the Fiend Folio? F-K

Continuing to investigate the people who created the monsters in the best monster book.

Name	#	Monsters	Author Notes
Ferguson, Mike	5	Algoid, Ice lizard, Tiger fly, Trilloch, Vision	Publisher and editor of early UK fanzine Illusionist’s Vision. A couple Traveller articles in early White Dwarf. Many credits in various rpg product lines: d20, Pathfinder, BRP, Rifts, WFRP 2e, DCC.
Fiore, Albie	12	Berbalang, Carbuncle, Caterwaul, Dragonfish, Firenewt, Giant strider, Grimlock, Quipper, Sussurus, Vodyanoi, Yellow Musk Creeper, Zombie (yellow musk)	From RPGgeek.com: “Albie Fiore (c. 1946 in Southend-on-Sea, Essex - July 28, 2009) was a London game designer who was a long-standing editor of the regular Fiend Factory column in the Games Workshop Ltd. magazine White Dwarf, the editor of the magazine Games & Puzzles, and a compiler of the London Guardian's cryptic crossword. He co-authored the book Rubik's Puzzles and was known for composing puzzles and crosswords. He also worked as a contributor to the television show The Crystal Maze, a writer and researcher of children's comic characters such as Scooby Doo, an antiques dealer specializing in slot machines, and a chef on private yachts... He died at age 63 from complications from a lung tumor.” Also one of the designers of the Judge Dredd rpg and codesigner the Games Workshop ‘dungeon planners’ Caverns of the Dead and Nightmare in Blackmarsh.
Goodwin, Jeremy and Ian McDowell	1	Babbler	Jeremy Goodwin has several contributions to the zine Trollcrusher. Illustrator for module O2: Blade of Vengeance. UPDATE: Commenters have suggested that Jeremy Goodwin is the same person as Jes/Jez Goodwin, who illustrated CM6 When Chaos Reigns and has done art for Warhammer 40K. Ian McDowell will get his own entry in a later installment.
Graver, Trevor	2	Galltrit, Needleman	Multiple articles in the UK Traveller zines Dark Star and Alien Star. Some White Dwarf articles. One piece in the zine Illusionist’s Vision. An adventure in issue #10 of Journal of the Traveller’s Aid Society.
Gygax, Gary	9	Booka, Demon (Lolth), Elf (drow), Jermlaine, Killmoulis, Kuo-toa, Mezzodaemon, Nycadaemon, Svirfneblin	Never heard of him.
Gygax, Luke and Gary Gygax	1	Bullywug	Luke is co-author of a variety of D&D/AD&D/Castles & Crusades adventures, probably most notably The Lost City of Gaxmoor. He also was one of the designers of the classic Gamma World adventure GW1: Legion of Gold along with his dad and Paul Reiche III.
Hall, Ronald	1	Terithran	Inventor of two AD&D oddities: the Attack Priority System (Dragon #71), the land dragons (Dragon #74).
Hellman, Stephen	2	Pĕnanggalan, Revenant	No further info available.
Hitchcock, Cricky	2	Gorilla bear, Xvart	Desert Raider, another monster in White Dwarf #12.
Home, Stephen	1	Lizard king	No further info available.
Jackson, Dermot	1	Bunyip, Meazel	No further info available.
Jones, Jonathan	3	Garbug, Volt, Witherstench	No further info available.
Kernohan, Hugh	1	Eye of fear and flame	Articles in early Scottish zine Underworld Oracle.
Key, Andrew	2	Gorbel, Imorph	Contributed to an issue of UK zine Demonsblood.
Korabik, Peter	1	Meenlock	No further info available.

RIP Albie Fiore

Who wrote the Fiend Folio? A-E

The cover of the original 1981 Fiend Folio says "edited by Don Turnbull." The monsters inside were written by seventy different people, half of whom contributed a single monster. I rarely think about who wrote my favorite Fiend Folio monsters. Who are these folks? Do they have other credits in the hobby? I've decided to try to find out. Here are my first batch of results.

Name	#	Monsters	Author Notes
Asbury, Brian	1	Xill	A.k.a Brian K. Asbury. Frequent contributor to the early UK zines Chimaera, Demonsblood, Trollcrusher. Several articles in the early days of White Dwarf, including an early Barbarian class (the first published?) and the infamous Houri class. Short story in issue 9 of Imagine. Kindle short story collection Purple Parables.
Atkin, Chris	1	Troll (spirit)	No further info available.
Barnes, Mark	2	Snyad, Thork	No further info available.
Boschelli, Louis	2	Devil dog, Giant (mountain)	No further info available.
Bowman, Ghee	1	Rothé	Now in the history department of the University of Exeter. Author of The Indian Contingent: The Forgotten Muslim Soldiers of Dunkirk.
Brown, Peter	1	Gryph	Other rpg credits appear in 90’s UK mags perChance, Valkyrie, and Role Player Independent. Some credits in Wargames Illustrated. Had a blog focusing on miniatures for a couple of years. Possibly the same Peter Brown who wrote the recently-published The Army of George II 1727-1760: The Soldiers who Forged an Empire (From Reason to Revolution).
Bulger, Brendan	1	Osquip	His monster the Greenmen (D&D stats for Edgar Rice Burroughs’ style green martians) appears in White Dwarf #27.
Chilman, R.K.R.	1	Ogrillon	According to an old school yearbook available online, this fellow was maybe 15 years old when the Fiend Folio was published. Not bad!
Cole, Russell	1	Troll (ice)	No further info available.
Donohoe, Jim	1	Lava children	Contributor to 3 issues of early UK zine Trollcrusher.
Eaton, Simon	2	Coffer corpse, Witherweed	Another monster of his, the Stormbiter (a sandstorm man), appears in White Dwarf #19.
English, M.	1	Clubnek	No further info available.