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| Born | Bruce Heard (1957-03-09)March 9, 1957 (age 68) Nice,France |
| Occupation | Game designer, fiction writer |
| Nationality | American and French |
| Genre | Role-playing games |
Bruce Heard (born March 9, 1957, inNice,France)[1] is agame designer, and an author of several products for theDungeons & Dragonsfantasyrole-playing game fromTSR.
Heard was born inNice,France, on March 9, 1957, to his French mother and U.S. Navy officer father. "I grew up in France, England, Morocco, Washington, DC, and Dallas, all before I started school. I speak French, English, Spanish, Portuguese, and a little German," he said.[1] Returning to Nice for his education, he graduated from thelycée (high school) in 1977; "I got passionately interested in wargames when I was attending the Lycée ... primarily inAvalon Hill games likeKriegspiel,Luftwaffe,Third Reich, andPanzer Leader—the classics. There were, of course, no French editions of these games at the time, so we all had to learn the American versions."[1] Heard loved to travel, so he studied hotel management and worked as a concierge in both France and San Francisco.[1]
While living in San Francisco, Heard discovered theDungeons & Dragons Basic Set, and when he returned to Paris he joined his first regularDungeons & Dragons (D&D) group. "I started writing articles onD&D andAD&D for a French gaming magazine, and there learned thatTSR was looking for a translator to translate the games into French. Well, I spoke and wrote both languages, and I knew the games, so I wrote a letter toGary Gygax. By a coincidence, he was just about to come to Paris on business, and so we set up a meeting. I must have done OK, because he offered me the job."[1] TSR hired Heard in 1983.[2] After a few months of doing translation work in Nice, TSR moved the translating job to the home office inLake Geneva, Wisconsin, so Heard moved to the United States.[1]
After working for two years as a translator (which also included coordinating outside translators who turned the games into German, Italian, and Spanish), Heard transferred to TSR's Games Division in July 1985 as an Acquisitions Editor, working withJon Pickens. When Pickens was promoted to Editor ofStrategy & Tactics, Heard became Games Acquisitions Coordinator, in charge of contracting freelance writers. Heard also did some game design, including adventure modules CM7,Tree of Life; M1,Into the Maelstrom; and co-authorship of DL12,Dragons of Faith.[1]
In 2013, Heard decided to self-produce The World of Calidar, a completely new setting with no reference to a specific ruleset, but with some flavor similar to Mystara and the Princess Ark.[3]
Bruce Heard worked on several products for TSR on theDungeons & Dragons Basic Set game, and wrote the "Voyage of the Princess Ark" comic series that was published inDragon magazine, as well as someAdvanced Dungeons & Dragons products. Heard also worked for TSR as a product manager, director ofproduction planning, and head of games acquisitions.