David L. Pulver

David L. Pulver (born 2 November 1965 in Kingston, Ontario) is a Canadian freelance writer and game designer, with a History degree from Queen's University. He is the author of more than fifty role-playing game rulebooks and supplements, including the award winning Transhuman Space.

Role-playing game designs

In a 2010 interview, Pulver stated that although he has been doing work for Steve Jackson Games "ever since I became a freelance writer," he also worked for TSR, Game Designer's Workshop, West End Games, Iron Crown Enterprises, and White Wolf Publishing, before his significant contribution to the Guardians of Order catalogue. He is a fan of anime and manga.[1]

In 1989 Pulver designed the first version of GURPS Ultra-Tech, an equipment guide that could be used with many different (science fiction) worlds.[2]:107 During this period, Pulver contributed adventures to several anthologies published for GURPS at the time, and also designed GURPS Psionics (1991) followed by GURPS Vehicles (1993). The latter featured a mathematically-complex vehicle construction system,[2]:109 allowing the creation of vehicles ranging from a stone-age canoe to faster-than-light starship. This system was later simplified for GURPS Traveller (especially GURPS Traveller: Starships and GURPS Traveller: Ground Forces) and GURPS World War 2 (including GURPS WW2: Motorpool). The design rules in GURPS Robots (1997) and GURPS Mecha (1997) are fully compatible with it. Pulver also produced two original game settings for SJG at this time: GURPS Reign of Steel (1996) and GURPS Technomancer (1998).

In November 1998, fellow Canadian Mark MacKinnon brought Pulver on to Guardians of Order, and Pulver took the lead in extending Big Eyes, Small Mouth from its simple beginnings to become a more complex game, including a skill system and vehicle rules.[2]:335 Pulver also simultaneously worked on more licensed, standalone games, resulting in his authorship of releases such as Dominion: Tank Police (1999), Demon City Shinjuku (2000), and Tenchi Muyo! (2000).[2]:336 With John R. Phythyon, Jr., Pulver also designed the gangster Samurai Tri-stat game Ghost Dog (2000) based on the film of the same name.[2]:336 Continuing his interest in science-fiction, he also wrote Centauri Knights (2001), the first original setting from Guardians of Order.[2]:336 In fact, Pulver continued to write for Guardians almost to the point where they ceased publication, notably contributing to their anthologies of settings, Ex Machina (2004) and Dreaming Cities (2005).

Meanwhile, Pulver continued his 20-year relationship with Steve Jackson Games. He contributed to GURPS Traveller and GURPS World War 2 lines, and created Transhuman Space (2002), a new science fiction setting and game line for GURPS.[2]:111 Pulver assisted Sean Punch with the new, fourth edition of GURPS beginning in September 2002, and with releases from 2004 to 2009.[2]:112 His vehicle design rules for the 4th edition of GURPS, were released in GURPS Spaceships (2007).

Work in other media

Steve Jackson and David Pulver coauthored a novella entitled Thera Awakening that was distributed with the Interplay computer game Stonekeep. This novella describes the back story and history of the Stonekeep world and characters and was completed before the game itself was finished.

David was the Guest of Honor at the 1992 U-Con gaming convention (held annually at the University of Michigan).

Writing credits: GURPS Books, Fourth Edition

Writing credits: GURPS Books, Third Edition

Writing credits: Other Game Systems

References

  1. ↑ DiceCast Special Holiday Interview Episode (by Polymancer Studios). Podcast, includes interview with David Pulver
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Shannon Appelcline (2011). Designers & Dragons. Mongoose Publishing. ISBN 978-1-907702-58-7.
  3. ↑ "Origins Award Winners (1992)". Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design. Archived from the original on 2008-11-21. Retrieved 2007-09-04.
  4. ↑ "Transhuman Space wins Grog d'Or 2003". GamingReport.com . Retrieved 2007-09-05. External link in |publisher= (help)
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