| Jeff Dee | |
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Jeff Dee on The Atheist Experience TV show, January 4th, 2009. |
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| Birth name | Jeff Dee |
| Born | May 15, 1961 |
| Nationality | American |
| Field | Fantasy art, Illustration |
Jeff Dee (born May 15, 1961) is an American artist and game designer. Based in Austin, Texas, he is a recognized figure in the role-playing game community and game industry.[1] His illustrative work shows comic book art form and influence.
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When still a teenager in the late 1970s, Dee and Jack Herman co-created Villains and Vigilantes, the first complete superhero role-playing game. He went on to illustrate numerous material for the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons (AD&D) including interior artwork for manuals and illustrations and covers for adventure modules for the game. Some of his most recognized work can be found in the manual Deities & Demigods (especially in the Egyptian and Norse pantheons). Along with Erol Otus, Jim Roslof, David S. LaForce, David C. Sutherland III and David A. Trampier, Dee is recognized as one of the first-generation D&D artists, providing artwork as settings for imaginary worlds and adventures.
About 1989, Dee went on to provide artwork for computer games. He worked on several installments in the Ultima series including serving as the Art Director for Ultima VII. Dee has worked for companies such as Apogee, Origin, Simtex Software and Looking Glass Studios. He was the Director of Development on Ashen Empires, a massively multiplayer online fantasy RPG from TKO Software, and Lead Designer on The Sims: Castaway Stories.
Dee designed and provided the artwork for Villains and Vigilantes, a tabletop superhero RPG.[2] He also designed or co-designed several other RPG's including TWERPS, The System, Living Legends, Quicksilver, and Pocket Universe. He also designed WarChest, a customizable fantasy boardgame.
In the early 1990s Dee became the art director for the PC game developer Simtex and was involved in the development of several games, including Master of Orion and the sequel Master of Orion 2, Master of Magic, and other titles. He was also involved in the early developmental stages of a superhero game project that was cancelled later. Dee and most of his art department, as well as notable producer Jeff Johannigman, had famous clashes with the management style of Simtex CEO and lead programmer Steve Barcia.
In 1997 with partner, 'Manda, Dee founded UNIgames, a publisher of role-playing, board and computer games. In 2009 he co-founded Nemesis Games, developers of an MMO named Gargantua.[3] In 2010 he and Jack Herman co-founded Monkey House Games in order to re-release Villains and Vigilantes.[4]
In addition to his artistic and game-related work, Dee is an outspoken atheist and transhumanist.[5] He's the former host of a bi-weekly Internet podcast called The Non-Prophets (now hosted by Denis Loubet) and a current rotating co-host (and former host) of a live, weekly, Public-access television program, The Atheist Experience[6] (now hosted by Matt Dillahunty, the president of the Atheist Community of Austin).[7]