Ken Rolston | |
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| Occupation(s) | Computer game andpen and paper role-playing gamedesigner |
Ken Rolston is an American computer game androle-playinggame designer best known for his work withWest End Games and on the computer game seriesThe Elder Scrolls. In February 2007, he elected to join the staff of computer games companyBig Huge Games to create a new role-playing game.[1]
Ken Rolston began working as a professional games designer in 1982. Rolston spent twelve years as an award-winning designer of tabletop role-playing games. His credits include games and supplements forParanoia,RuneQuest,Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay,Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, andDungeons & Dragons.[1][2][3][4]
Ken Rolston worked as a writer onBasic Role-Playing forChaosium.[5]: 187 Rolston also worked on theStormbringer andSuperworld lines for Chaosium.[6] Rolston joined theParanoia team as its fourth creator soon after he was hired atWest End Games in 1983, and he was responsible for adding atmosphere to the rules written byGreg Costikyan, the results of which were published atGenCon in 1984.[7] Rolston wrote a complete manuscript for a magic system forGames Workshop to use inWarhammer Fantasy Roleplay, but they rejected it; the manuscript by Rolston spent years circulating on the internet instead.[8] Rolston left West End Games whenScott Palter decided to move the company from New York to rural Honesdale, Pennsylvania in 1988.[9] Chaosium stopped producing material forRuneQuest throughAvalon Hill in 1989, but they returned toRuneQuest in 1992 with Rolston as editor.[10] Rolston started the "RuneQuest Renaissance" with his first publication in the line beingSun County (1992) fromTales of the Reaching Moon contributorMichael O'Brien .[6] Avalon Hill dropped Rolston as a staff member in 1994, keeping him on as a freelancer; his last two booksStrangers in Prax andLords of Terror were published that year, and he went on afterwards to work at a multimedia company.[6]
Rolston also was winner of the H. G. Wells Award for Best Role-playing Game, Paranoia, 1985,[11] and served as role-playing director for West End Games, Games Workshop, and Avalon Hill Game Company.
In 2016, Rolston joined Mongoose Games to assist in editing their newest edition of Paranoia, which was Kickstarted in 2014, in order to "hit all the right notes for both veteran players and newbies alike."[12]
Rolston was the lead designer for Bethesda's role-playing gameThe Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, its expansions and was also lead designer forThe Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. He was lead designer for twoBig Huge Games projects, both of which were canceled in 2009.[13]
Rolston went on to be the lead creative visionary forKingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, a single player RPG designed byBig Huge Games, a Baltimore subsidiary of38 Studios.[citation needed]
| Year | Title | Type | Role(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | Paranoia, 2nd edition | Tabletop role-playing game | Writer |
| 1989 | Something Rotten in Kislev forWarhammer Fantasy Roleplay | ||
| 1991 | Extreme Paranoia: Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Shot | Novel | |
| 1997 | An Elder Scrolls Legend: Battlespire | Video game | Design and Dialogue |
| 1998 | The Elder Scrolls Adventures: Redguard | Additional Writing | |
| 2000 | Sea Dogs | Additional design and writing | |
| 2002 | The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind | Lead designer | |
| 2003 | Pirates of the Caribbean | Additional design and writing | |
| 2006 | The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion | Lead designer | |
| 2012 | Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning | Executive design director | |
| 2017 | The Long Dark | Designer-in-residence |
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| National | |
