Allen Varney | |
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 Allen Varney in 2006 | |
| Born | 1958 (age 67–68) St. Louis, Missouri, United States |
| Genre | Role-playing games |
| Spouse | Beth Fischi[1] |
Allen Varney (born 1958)[1] is an American writer andgame designer. Varney has produced numerous books,role-playing game supplements, technical manuals, articles, reviews, columns, and stories, as well as thefantasy novelCast of Fate (TSR, 1996). Since the 1990s, he has worked primarily in computer games.
Varney was born inSt. Louis, Missouri and was raised by his mother, Marcelene Varney. He graduated fromReno High School in 1976 and has a dual B.A. in English and history from theUniversity of Nevada, Reno.[1]
Varney designed the gameNecromancer (1983), which was published bySteve Jackson Games.[2]: 103 Varney wroteSon of Toon (1986), the third supplement to theToon RPG.[2]: 104 From 1984 to 1986 he worked as Assistant Editor at Steve Jackson Games[1] (withWarren Spector, then Editor-in-Chief) editingSpace Gamer magazine.
Warren Spector and Varney wrote the supplementSend in the Clones (1985) for theParanoia role-playing game fromWest End Games.[2]: 189 In 1986, he left Steve Jackson Games to freelance.[1] From this time onward, he wrote a large body of game supplements for companies likeTSR, Inc.,FASA Corporation,West End Games, andWhite Wolf.
Varney did work for TSR from 1987 to 1992, including the "Blood Brethren" trilogy (Nightwail,Nightrage,Nightstorm) andFive Coins for a Kingdom,Wildspace forSpelljammer,Veiled Alliance forDark Sun, and several gamebooks, theAriya,Binsada, andTalinie realm packs forBirthright. He also edited modules for theRavenloft,Planescape, andForgotten Realms settings, and was a game reviewer and news columnist forDragon magazine.
Varney wrote theAD&D GamebookThe Vanishing City in 1987, and theEndless Quest gamebookGalactic Challenge forAmazing Engine in 1995.
Varney served as the line editor for a new version of the roleplaying gameParanoia, published in 2004 byMongoose Publishing.[2]: 398 He wrote the new rules and packaged the game's support line with the help of his "Traitor Recycling Studio" until 2006 when Mongoose put the game line on hold.[2]: 398
Most recently, Varney has operated theBundle of Holding site, distributing bundles of licensed but DRM-free role-playing game files in a series of time-limited offers.
Enspire Learning produces a computer version of Varney's multiplayerbusiness ethics andleadership simulation, the Executive Challenge.[1][3]Executive Challenge was covered inThe Wall Street Journal.[4]
Varney has long been involved in the game design and documentation for companies such asOrigin Systems,[5]Interplay, Prodigy,Acclaim Entertainment,Looking Glass Technologies,MicroProse, andSony Online Entertainment. He wrote character dialogue forStar Wars Galaxies,[1] and worked again with Warren Spector onEpic Mickey.[6]
Varney also writes forThe Escapist.[7]
In 1993, Varney designed an expansion set forMagic: The Gathering. This was not published, but the design concepts later surfaced in the web-based Vanguard format of the game,[8] with Varney credited for the original concept.
Varney has participated in the Texas Juggling Society at theUniversity of Texas since 1985.[9]
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