David Cook | |
|---|---|
 Cook at the 2016Lucca Comics & Games | |
| Born | |
| Other names | Zeb[1] |
| Occupation(s) | Game designer,writer |
| Spouse | Helen |
| Children | Ian |
David "Zeb" Cook is an Americangame designer, best known for his work atTSR, Inc., where he was employed for over fifteen years. Cook designed several games, wrote theExpert Set forDungeons & Dragons, worked as lead designer of the second edition ofAdvanced Dungeons & Dragons, and invented thePlanescape setting forAD&D. He is a member of theOrigins Hall of Fame.
Cook was born inEast Lansing, Michigan, and grew up on a farm inIowa. His father was a farmer and college professor. In junior high school, Cook played wargames such asAvalon Hill'sBlitzkrieg andAfrika Korps: "I was primarily a wargamer, but there wasn't any role-playing available then."[1] In college, he was introduced to theDungeons & Dragons role-playing game through theUniversity of Iowa gaming club.[1]
Cook earned his B.A. in English (with a Theater minor) in 1977.[1] He married his high school sweetheart, Helen, with whom he had one son, Ian.[1] Cook became a high school teacher inMilligan, Nebraska, where his students gave him his nickname of "Zeb". The name derives from his signature, which is dominated by a stroke resembling a 'Z,' as well as from his resemblance to theJames Arness character Zeb Macahan in the TV seriesHow the West Was Won.[1]
Cook responded to an ad inDragon magazine for a game designer position atTSR. After writing a sample module section and completing the designer test that the company then used, Cook became the third full-time game designer hired by TSR.[1]Lawrence Schick was head of design and development at the time and brought Cook on board during a time of substantial growth at TSR.[2]: 11 Cook later became Senior Designer. "Game designing is hard work [...] but everything worth doing is hard work. The important thing is to do it well, and to have fun while you're doing it." Cook created role-playing games, modules, family board games, card games, rulebooks, and party mystery games.[1]
He created thePartyzone mystery game line andThe Spy Ring scenario.[1] The firstPartyzone game was named one of the Top 100 Games of 1985 byGames Magazine. Other notable works for TSR include the role-playing gamesConan the Barbarian,Crimefighters,[3]The Adventures of Indiana Jones,Star Frontiers,Sirocco, andEscape from New York. Cook also wrote several influential early adventure modules for D&D and AD&D, such asA1: Slave Pits of the Undercity,I1: Dwellers of the Forbidden City,X1: The Isle of Dread,X4: Master of the Desert Nomads, andX5: Temple of Death (the 'Desert Nomads' series). Other module work includedCM4: Earthshaker!,AC5: Dragon Tiles II,AC2: D&D Game Combat Shield,B6: The Veiled Society,CB1: Conan Unchained!, andM1: Blizzard Pass forD&D andAD&D, andTop Secret moduleTS005: Orient Express andBoot Hill moduleBH2: Lost Conquistador Mine.[1]
AfterTom Moldvay wrote the second edition of theD&DBasic Set, published in 1980, Cook developed theExpert Set to take characters beyond third level.[2]: 11 Cook was the primary author of the originalOriental Adventures,[2]: 17 ostensibly under the guidance and direction ofGary Gygax,[1] which among other things introduced the concept of non-weapon proficiencies into AD&D,[4] and he designed the far eastern setting,Kara-Tur.[5] Cook, withJim Ward,Steve Winter, andMike Breault, co-wrote the adventure scenario that was adapted into the gamePool of Radiance.[6] Cook was the lead designer on the 2nd edition ofAdvanced Dungeons & Dragonsrole-playing game.[2]: 22 [7] InDragon #118 (February 1987), Cook wrote the column "Who Dies?" in which he discussed whichcharacter classes may be thrown out in the revision, with the intention of provoking a response from readers.[2]: 22 Cook was also the lead designer on thePlanescapecampaign setting.[7] When TSR was looking to replaceSpelljammer after the setting ended,Slade Henson suggested that a new campaign setting could be built using the originalManual of the Planes; after the idea went unused for a year, Cook took it over and invented Planescape as a result.[2]: 26 One reviewer describedPlanescape as "the finestgame world ever produced forAdvanced Dungeons & Dragons".[8]
Cook left TSR in 1994 to work in the field of electronic media.[citation needed] He worked on the gameFallout 2.[9] He was the lead designer on the 2005City of Villainscomputer game forCryptic Studios.[2]: 153 [7] After he left Cryptic, he joined Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment as the lead systems designer for the video gameStargate Worlds.[10] In 2001 he was inducted into theOrigins Hall of Fame.[11]
In 2013, Cook worked as Content Designer atZeniMax Online Studios onThe Elder Scrolls Online.[12] With the release of the Elsweyr expansion for the game in June 2019, Cook was credited as a Senior Product Owner for Bethesda.Net.[13]
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