Mike Mearls

Mike Mearls
Occupation Writer, game designer
Nationality United States
Genre Role-playing games

Michael Mearls is a writer and designer of fantasy role-playing games (RPGs) and related fiction.

Education

Mearls is an alumnus of Dartmouth College.[1] While at Dartmouth he was a member of Sigma Nu fraternity.

Career

Mearls wrote the adventure To Stand on Hallowed Ground/Swords Against Deception (2001) for Fiery Dragon Productions[2]:226 and the last product from Hogshead Publishing, a Warhammer adventure titled Fear the Worst (2002) that Hogshead released for free on the internet.[2]:307 He also designed the game Iron Heroes (2005) for Malhavoc Press.[2]:226

In June 2005, Mearls was hired as a designer by Wizards of the Coast; he came to Wizards through the community of third-party d20 designers.[2]:301 At Wizards, he served as a lead developer for Dungeons & Dragons R&D working on the new 4th Edition.[3] Between the "Orcus I" and "Orcus II" design phases for fourth edition, Mearls spliced the encounter-power mechanics of fourth edition into Tome of Battle: The Book of Nine Swords (2006), which was in process during development of the new edition.[2]:298

Along with Andy Collins, David Noonan, and Jesse Decker, Mearls was part of Rob Heinsoo's "Flywheel" design team for the fourth edition of Dungeons & Dragons, and did the final concept work from May 2006 to September 2006, before the first books for the edition were written and playtested.[2]:297 After Heinsoo was laid off in 2009, Mearls stepped up to become the new D&D Lead Designer.[2]:301 He co-designed the Castle Ravenloft Board Game (2010) with Bill Slavicsek.[2]:302

Personal

On July 23, 2014, Mearls announced on Twitter that he and his wife are expecting their first child.[4]

Writing credits

References

  1. TheDartmouth.com | Graduation List as of June 5, 1997
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 Shannon Appelcline (2011). Designers & Dragons. Mongoose Publishing. ISBN 978-1-907702-58-7.
  3. Mike Mearls' blog - Wizards Community
  4. Mearls, Mike. "Confirmation of Pregnancy to Enquiry based on reference to need for a nursery".
  5. Crawford, Jeremy; Mearls, Mike; Wyatt, James. "Contents". Player's Handbook 2. Wizards of the Coast. Retrieved 2011-10-05.
  6. Mearls, Mike. "Playtest: New Hybrid and Multiclass Options". Dragon magazine #400. Wizards of the Coast. Retrieved 5 October 2011.
  7. Mearls, Mike (2007-09-21). "Encounter Design in 4th Edition". Dragon magazine #360. Wizards of the Coast. Retrieved 2012-08-23.

External links