Tom Wham

Tom Wham
Born 1944
Chester, Illinois, United States
Nationality American
Known for Fantasy art, Illustration

Tom Wham (born 1944 in Chester, Illinois) is a designer of board games who has also produced artwork, including that for his own games.

Career

Wham worked a variety of odd jobs during his early adult life. After serving four years in the U.S. Navy, he worked for the Guidon Games hobby shop in Maine[1] where he got his first game, a variant on a Civil War naval miniatures campaign, published.[2] One of Wham's books was published in the same series of books from Guidon Games that began in 1971 with Chainmail.[3]:6 In 1972, Wham got a job with Don Lowry at Guidon Games, in the shipping/layout department of Campaign magazine; there, he co-authored a set of Civil War naval miniature rules, Ironclad.[4] Afterwards he became a prison guard in his hometown, then held an office job in Denver.[2] In May 1977 he began working for TSR, Inc. at their Lake Geneva, Wisconsin headquarters as a general office worker, the company's 13th employee.[4] After running the Dungeon Hobby Shop for a summer, he was moved upstairs to the company's art department.[4] Wham worked with Dave Sutherland and Dave Trampier on the original Monster Manual.[4] Wham began doing some creative work for the company, contributing a handful of illustrations for the original AD&D Monster Manual, including the creature called the beholder.[2] He also made a deal with Tim Kask, editor of The Dragon, to do a game in the centerfold, called Snit Smashing; this led to other games in Dragon, including The Awful Green Things From Outer Space.[4] These games, printed on cardstock and included in the centerfold of the magazine, usually featured artwork supplied by Wham.

Notable games published this way include:

After TSR, Wham collaborated on books with Rose Estes, and did his own novelette in Christopher Stasheff's The Exotic Enchanter.[4] More games followed, including Kings & Things (with Rob Kuntz), the SimCity card game, and Iron Dragon.[4] More recent efforts include a reprint of Snits from Steve Jackson Games, and Planet Busters by Troll Lord Games.[4]

Wham designed the board game "King of the Tabletop" with Robert J. Kuntz, which was published in Dragon #77 (September 1983); the game was later expanded and rereleased as Kings & Things (1986) by West End Games, and was an Origins award-winner.[3]:241

Since leaving TSR Wham has designed many more games, most recently collaborating with James M. Ward on the board game Dragon Lairds, published in April 2008.[5] The game received a 3 for style and a 4 for substance (out of 5) at RPG.net.[6]

References

  1. ↑ Sacco, Ciro Alessandro. "The Ultimate Interview with Gary Gygax". thekyngdoms.com. Retrieved 2008-10-24.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Knorr, Bryce (August 1980). "Wham's Revenge: his games". Dragon #40 (Lake Geneva, Wisconsin: TSR, Inc.) V (2): 14–17.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Shannon Appelcline (2011). Designers & Dragons. Mongoose Publishing. ISBN 978-1-907702-58-7.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 Wham, Tom (2007). "Puerto Rico". In Lowder, James. Hobby Games: The 100 Best. Green Ronin Publishing. pp. 251–253. ISBN 978-1-932442-96-0.
  5. ↑ Tom Wham.com
  6. ↑ REVIEW OF Dragon Lairds by Shannon Appelcline. RPGnet.com June 4, 2008

External links