Announcing The Game Mechanics!

December 13th, 2002 (Renton, WA) - We are pleased to announce that former Wizards of the Coast, Inc. employees JD Wiker, Rich Redman, Marc Schmalz, and Stan! have pooled their design, art, and business expertise together to form The Game Mechanics, Inc.

The Game Mechanics is a roleplaying game design studio dedicated to creating top-quality roleplaying game sourcebooks, adventures, accessories, and campaign settings using the d20 System under the Open Game License. The Game Mechanics d20 products are suitable for use with most major industry releases including Wizard of the Coast's Dungeons & Dragons and d20 Modern roleplaying games, as well as D&D and d20 Modern compatible products from other game publishers.

The Game Mechanics, Inc. will offer downloadable, printer-ready products as PDF files—available through such "pay-for-download" sites as RPG Now! and RPG.net. And in the future, The Game Mechanics hopes to partner with a traditional game publisher in order to expand into retail outlets with printed versions of our products.

The goal at The Game Mechanics, Inc. is to take what we've learned from working at Wizards of the Coast and other game companies, and emulate and improve upon the business model of other successful electronic publishers. Our plan is to offer the best quality products at a low cost from some of the most recognized names in the roleplaying game industry.

Check us out at TheGameMechanics.com!

And look for our first product, Swords of Our Fathers, by JD Wiker, in January!

JD Wiker is one of the designers of the Star Wars Roleplaying Game, co-designing the original and revised core rulebooks, The Dark Side Sourcebook, The New Jedi Order Sourcebook, The Power of the Jedi Sourcebook, and Secrets of Tatooine. He also designed or co-designed products for the Alternity Roleplaying Game, including Mindwalking: The Guide to Psionics, the Dark*Matter Arms & Equipment Guide (with Rich Redman), Xenoforms (also with Rich Redman), and The Final Church. As president of The Game Mechanics, JD's job will be to keep the company on target and to assist Rich and Stan! with coordinating the creative process—as well as designing even more top-notch products.

Rich Redman is a prolific game designer, having worked on Dungeons & Dragons, d20 Modern, the Marvel Super Heroes Adventure Game, and Dark*Matter. As one of the designers of 3rd Edition Dungeons & Dragons, and the lead designer on the forthcoming revised 3rd Edition Dungeon Master's Guide, he co-designed Defenders of the Faith, Deities and Demigods, and Monster Manual II, and developed Savage Species. He also co-designed d20 Modern and created the GeneTech campaign model for that game. He and JD collaborated on the Dark*Matter Arms & Equipment Guide and on Xenoforms. As vice-president and creative director, Rich will coordinate the designers, editors, and graphic artists—and do design work of his own, adding to his impressive resume.

Stan! is a 12-year veteran of the roleplaying game industry. He is a co-designer on the d20 Modern Roleplaying Game and is currently working on Urban Arcana, Wizard of the Coast's first campaign setting for that game. He has been nominated for 4 Origins Awards (twice for Game of the Year) and is the designer or co-designer of the Dragonlance Bestiary, Pokémon Jr. Adventure Game, Dragonlance Classics 15th Anniversary Edition, Marvel Super Heroes Adventure Game, SAGA Fate Deck, and Palanthas. Stan! is also an acclaimed author having written the Legend of the Five Rings novel The Crab and having short-stories published in Realms of Mystery, Mysterious Cairo, and several Dragonlance collections. Stan! will serve as the art director for The Game Mechanics, and share the duties of creative director with JD and Rich.

Marc Schmalz (known as "Sparky" when he covered Internet newsgroups for Wizards of the Coast's Customer Services Group) managed the Wizards of the Coast web team and Internet presence at the time of the TSR purchase. Since departing, Marc has worked as a developer and project manager for computing companies. As Secretary, Treasurer, and Web Manager, Marc's responsibilities will be the business operations and financial health of the new company, as well as its Internet presence.

Wizards of the Coast, Dungeons & Dragons, d20 Modern, GeneTech, and Urban Arcana, Defenders of the Faith, Deities and Demigods, Monster Manual II, Savage Species, Dragonlance Bestiary, Dragonlance Classics 15th Anniversary Edition, SAGA Fate Deck, and Palanthas, Alternity Roleplaying Game, Mindwalking: The Guide to Psionics, Dark*Matter Arms & Equipment Guide, Xenoforms, and The Final Church are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast, Inc., a subsidiary of Hasbro Inc.
Marvel Super Heroes Adventure Game is a trademark of Marvel Enterprises, Inc.
Pokémon Jr. Adventure Game is a trademark of the Nintendo Corporation.
Star Wars Roleplaying Game, The Dark Side Sourcebook, The New Jedi Order Sourcebook, The Power of the Jedi Sourcebook, and Secrets of Tatooine are trademarks of Lucasfilm, Inc.