L. Richard Baker III | |
|---|---|
| Born | Florida, U.S. |
| Occupation | Game designer |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University |
| Genre | Role-playing games, fantasy, science fiction |
| Spouse | Kim Rohrbach |
Richard Baker (full nameL. Richard Baker III) is an American author andgame designer who has worked on manyDungeons & Dragonscampaign settings.
Rich Baker was born and raised in Florida, then moved with his family toNew Jersey at age ten.[1] Baker graduated fromVirginia Tech in 1988 with a degree in English.[1] He received a commission as an ensign in the U.S. Navy, and served as a deck officer for three years on board theUSSTortuga; he qualified as aSurface Warfare Officer and was a lieutenant (junior grade) by the time he left the Navy.[1] Baker married his college sweetheart, Kim Rohrbach.[1] They have two daughters, Alex and Hannah.[2]
Baker began looking for a new career, and found one atTSR. "I'd been playing theAD&D game off and on since 1979. When I decided to leave the Navy, I sent TSR my résumé just for the pure hell of it. TSR sent me back a writing test, which I must have done pretty well on, since they brought me out for an interview in September of 1991. I'd never published a word before then or even worked the convention circuit, but they hired me anyway."[1]
After joining TSR in 1991, Rich worked on most of TSR's product lines at one point or another.[citation needed] By 1998, he had published over thirty game products and many magazine articles.[1] Baker started out writing game products such asRock of Bral for theSpelljammer line, as well as material for theForgotten Realms,Planescape, andRavenloft settings.[1] Baker andColin McComb co-designed theBirthright campaign setting.[3]: 29 TheBirthright Campaign Setting boxed set won the 1995Origins Award for Best New Role-Playing Supplement: "I'm very proud of it. It represents an entirely new approach to the traditional fantasy roleplaying campaign, and the world itself is filled with a strong sense of history."[1] Baker also oversaw the development of thePlayer's Option series of second editionAD&D manuals, stating "I greatly enjoyed the work I did on theWorld Builder's Guidebook".[1]
Baker went on to co-design theAlternity science fiction game: "As much as I am proud of my other work, I probably learned the most from the workBill [Slavicsek] and I put into theAlterity game system. Designing a new roleplaying game from the ground up is an immensely complicated undertaking, and I'm very pleased with the way it turned out."[1]Alternity was completed while TSR was still in operation and was meant to replaceAmazing Engine as the generic science-fiction role-playing game system for the company, but it was not released; the game was later released byWizards of the Coast after they bought TSR.[3]: 284 Aside from variousAlternity products, Baker also worked on theStar*Drive andDark•Matter settings for the game, and worked as Creative Director on them for a time.[1] Baker wrote several novels for various settings as well.[1]
His game work includesDungeons & Dragons (3rd and 4th Edition),Axis & Allies Miniatures,Axis & Allies Naval Miniatures: War at Sea, and numerousDungeons & Dragons adventures and sourcebooks.[2]
Rich lived in New Jersey,Virginia,Rhode Island, Virginia again,Louisiana, Virginia a third time, andWisconsin, but now lives inAuburn, Washington, with his wife Kim, two daughters, and cats. He's a fan of Golden Age SF and thePhiladelphia Phillies.
Rich was at the forefront ofWizards of the Coast's range ofForgotten Realms and core Third Edition D&D accessory books, and author of several novels set in andbelowFaerûn. He also answered questions about the Forgotten Realms at the Wizards website's forums – see the below external links.
Baker led the SCRAMJET team, which consisted ofJames Wyatt,Matt Sernett,Ed Stark,Michele Carter,Stacy Longstreet, andChris Perkins; this team updated the setting and cosmology ofD&D as the fourth edition was being developed.[3]: 298 Baker andBruce Cordell wrote a new release of theGamma World Roleplaying Game (2010), which was based on the rules for fourth editionD&D.[3]: 302 He also headed design on the 4th edition D&D iteration of the Dark Sun Campaign Setting, along with numerous other credits for that edition of the game.
He was also at the forefront of designing the series "Axis and Allies: War at Sea", a game of tactical World War II naval battles.
On December 14, 2011, Baker announced on his Wizards.com community page that Wizards of the Coast had eliminated his position and he would no longer be an employee of the company. He acknowledged the possibility that he would continue to write for the Forgotten Realms novel line, and hoped to continue design work on the company's miniature lines on a freelance basis.[4]
In 2020, Baker announced on hisblog that he was joiningZeniMax Online Studios as a senior writer on theElder Scrolls Onlinevideo game.[5]
Creative Director of:
Developer of:
