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American game designer and artist (born 1944) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tom Wham (born 1944) is a designer of board games who has also produced artwork, including that for his own games.
Tom Wham | |
---|---|
Born | 1944 (age 79–80)[citation needed] |
Nationality | American |
Known for | Fantasy art, Illustration |
Website | www.tomwham.com |
Born in Chester, Illinois,[citation needed] Wham worked a variety of odd jobs during his early adult life. After serving four years in the U.S. Navy, he worked for the Guidon Games hobby shop in Maine[1] where he got his first game, a variant on a Civil War naval miniatures campaign, published.[2] One of Wham's books was published in the same series of "Wargaming with Miniatures" books from Guidon Games that began in 1971 with Chainmail.[3]: 6 In 1972, Wham got a job with Don Lowry at Guidon Games, in the shipping/layout department of Campaign magazine; there, he co-authored a set of Civil War naval miniature rules, Ironclad.[4] Afterwards he became a prison guard in his hometown, then held an office job in Denver.[2]
In May 1977 he began working for TSR, Inc. at their Lake Geneva, Wisconsin headquarters as a general office worker, the company's 13th employee.[4] After running the Dungeon Hobby Shop for a summer, he was moved upstairs to the company's art department.[4] Wham worked with Dave Sutherland and his brother-in-law Dave Trampier on the original Monster Manual.[4] Wham began doing some creative work for the company, contributing a handful of illustrations for the original AD&D Monster Manual, including the creature called the beholder.[2] Other work included co-editing (with Timothy Jones, Mike Carr, and Brian Blume) the first edition of Gamma World.[5] He also made a deal with Tim Kask, editor of The Dragon, to do a game in the centerfold, called Snit Smashing; this led to other games in Dragon, including The Awful Green Things from Outer Space.[4] These games, printed on cardstock and included in the centerfold of the magazine, usually featured artwork supplied by Wham.
Notable games published this way include:
After TSR, Wham collaborated on books with Rose Estes, and did his own novelette in Christopher Stasheff's The Exotic Enchanter.[4] More games followed, including Kings & Things (with Rob Kuntz), the SimCity card game, and Iron Dragon.[4] Later efforts include a reprint of Snits and Awful Green Things from Outer Space from Steve Jackson Games, and Planet Busters by Troll Lord Games.[4]
Wham designed the board game "King of the Tabletop" with Robert J. Kuntz, which was published in Dragon #77 (September 1983); the game was expanded and published separately as the Origins award-winner Kings & Things (1986) by West End Games.[3]: 241
Since leaving TSR, Wham has designed many more games, including collaborating with James M. Ward on the board game Dragon Lairds, published in April 2008, and Feudality published by Z-man Games Inc. in 2011.[6]
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