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Game Designer%27s Workshop

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Game Designers' Workshop (GDW) was a wargame and role-playing game publisher from 1973 to 1996. Many of their games are now carried by other publishers.

History

Game Designer's Workshop was originally established June 22, 1973. The founding members consisted of Frank Chadwick, Rich Banner, Marc Miller, and Loren Wiseman.

GDW published a new product approximately every twenty-two days for over twenty years. in an effort of bridging the gap existing between the milieux of role players, board wargamers and miniature wargamers, the company published RPG with fantastic settings alongside ones with realistic or military themes, as well as rulesets about WW2, WW1, modern warfare and the American Civil War (meant to be used with 15mm or 20mm miniatures) and board-based wargames such as the Air Superiority series or Harpoon.

The company disbanded February 29, 1996 after suffering financial troubles. Designers working for the company attributed a part of GDW's failure as burn-out.

Products

Role-playing games

• 2300 AD (1987) - A hard science fiction roleplaying game, set 300 years after the Twilight War featured in Twilight: 2000. First edition was titled "Traveller: 2300"
• Cadillacs and Dinosaurs - Based on the underground comic book Xenozoic Tales.
• Dangerous Journeys (1992) A game which raised much interest due to the fact of having been masterminded by Gary Gygax. It should have been the cornerstone of a multi-genre system whose second system (an horror game named "Unhallowed!") never materialized. However, enough volumes were spawned of the fantasy line to allow an expert game master and willing players to set up a working campaign without excessive effort.
• Dark Conspiracy (1991)
• En Garde! (1975) - Dueling game set in 17th-century France
• Space: 1889 (1988) - Victorian-era spacefaring game which provided for roleplay opportunities, steampunk aerial gunboat engagements and "colonial" miniature warfare with retro-futuristic elements such as Martian brave warbands and odd space creatures.
• Traveller (1977) - A science fiction game originally intended as a ruleset for generic space opera adventures.

• MegaTraveller (1986)- Second edition of Traveller.
• Traveller: The New Era (1992) - Third edition of Traveller.

• Twilight 2000 (1984) - An alternate history game set in a Europe devastated by nuclear war, with adventures and supplements also dealing with the U.S. and Bangkok.

Board Games

Miniatures rules

• Fire & Steel (Napoleonic Wars)
• Harpoon (modern naval combat), later developed into a computer game
• Johnny Reb (American Civil War)
• Striker (science fiction, 1983), another Traveller based game.
• Command Decision (20th Century Warfare, WWII)
• Combined Arms (Cold War, post-WWII)
• TacForce (20th Century Warfare)
• Over the Top (20th Century WWI)
• Star Cruiser (23th Century Space Warfare) a 2300AD based game
• Sky Galleons of Mars (Space 1889 aerial Warfare)

Grenadier Magazine

The Grenadier was the house magazine from 1978 to 1990, with 35 issues. It started off as a quarterly magazine, but towards the end was published sporadically. Although it covered games from all companies, it gave most of the magazine space to GDW games.

Journal of the Travellers Aid Society

Journal of the Travellers Aid Society was a magazine dedicated to Traveller published by GDW between 1979 and 1985.

Challenge

Challenge was a role-playing game magazine that replaced Journal of the Travellers Aid Society. It covered all of GDW's role playing games, not just Traveller. It was published between 1986 and 1996.

Awards

• Best Graphics of 1976 Charles S. Roberts Award, Avalanche
• Best Fantasy/Futuristic Game of 1978 Charles S. Roberts Award, Mayday
• Best Miniatures Rules of 1978 H. G. Wells Award, Fire & Steel
• Best Historical Figure Series of 1979 H. G. Wells Award, System Seven Napoleonics
• Best Miniatures Rules of 1979 H. G. Wells Award, System Seven Napoleonics
• Best Roleplaying Adventure of 1979 H. G. Wells Award, Kinunir
• Best Magazine Covering Roleplaying of 1979 H. G. Wells Award, Journal of the Travellers Aid Society
• Best Fantasy or Science Fiction Boardgame of 1980 Charles S. Roberts Award, Azhanti High Lightning
• Best Miniatures Rules of 1980 H. G. Wells Award, Tacforce
• Best Roleplaying Adventure of 1980 H. G. Wells Award, Twilights Peak
• Best Professional Magazine Covering Roleplaying of 1980 H. G. Wells Award, Journal of the Travellers Aid Society
• Best Pre-20th Century Boardgame of 1981 Charles S. Roberts Award, House Divided
• Best Professional Roleplaying Magazine of 1981 H. G. Wells Award, Journal of the Travellers Aid Society
• All Time Best Miniatures Rules for 20th Century Land Battles of 1981 H. G. Wells Award, Tacforce
• Best Miniatures Rules of 1982 H. G. Wells Award, Striker
• Best Roleplaying Rules of 1984 H. G. Wells Award, Twilight: 2000
• Best Miniatures Rules of 1986 H. G. Wells Award, Command Decision
• Best Roleplaying Adventure of 1986 H. G. Wells Award, Going Home
• Best Boardgame Covering the Period 1900-1946 of 1987 Origins Award, Scorched Earth
• Best Boardgame Covering the Period 1947-Modern Day of 1987 Origins Award, Team Yankee
• Best Miniatures Rules of 1987 Origins Award, Harpoon
• Best Miniatures Rules of 1988 Origins Award, To The Sound of the Guns
• Best Fantasy or Science Fiction Boardgame of 1988 Origins Award, Sky Galleons of Mars
• Best Graphic Presentation of a Boardgame of 1988 Origins Award, Sky Galleons of Mars
• Best Pre-World War Two Game of 1989 Charles S. Roberts Award, House Divided (2nd edition)
• Best Roleplaying Rules of 1993 Origins Award, Traveller: the New Era

References