Greg Stafford in Helsinki, Finland on July 21, 2005

Francis Gregory Stafford (born February 9, 1948), usually known as Greg Stafford, is an American game designer, publisher and shaman. Image File history File links Greg_Stafford. ... Image File history File links Greg_Stafford. ... Founded 1550 Province Southern Finland Region Uusimaa Sub-region Helsinki Area - Of which land - Rank 185. ... July 21 is the 202nd day (203rd in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 163 days remaining. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... February 9 is the 40th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1948 (MCMXLVIII) was a leap year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1948 calendar). ... A game designer is a person who designs games. ... A publisher is a person or entity which engages in the act of publishing. ... The shaman is an intellectual and spiritual figure who is regarded as possessing power and influence on other peoples in the tribe and performs several functions, primarily that of a healer ( medicine man). The shaman provides medical care, and serves other community needs during crisis times, via supernatural means (means...

Glorantha and gaming

Stafford is most famous as the creator of the fantasy world of Glorantha, but is also a prolific games designer - he was co-designer of the RuneQuest, Pendragon, and HeroQuest role-playing systems, founder of the role-playing game companies Chaosium and Issaries, designer of the White Bear and Red Moon and Nomad Gods board games, and co-designer of the King of Dragon Pass computer game. Glorantha is the mythical world developed originally by Greg Stafford and that has since been used as the background for many role-playing games, especially RuneQuest and HeroQuest. ... RuneQuest is a fantasy role-playing game, first published in 1978 by Chaosium. ... Pendragon is a role-playing game in which players take the role of knights performing chivalric deeds in the tradition of Arthurian legend. ... HeroQuest is a fantasy role-playing game written by Robin D. Laws and published by Issaries, Inc. ... A role-playing game (RPG) is a type of game in which players assume the roles of characters and collaboratively create narratives. ... Chaosium is one of the longer lived publishers of role_playing games still in existence. ... Greg Staffords Issaries, Inc. ... White Bear and Red Moon (WBRM) is a fantasy boardgame set in the peculiar fantasy world of Glorantha, invented by Greg Stafford and published in 1975. ... A board game is any game played on a board (that is, a premarked surface) with counters or pieces that are placed on, removed from, or moved across the board. ... King of Dragon Pass is a computer game published by A-Sharp in 1999. ... A computer game is a game composed of a computer-controlled virtual universe that players interact with in order to achieve a defined goal or set of goals. ...

Greg Stafford's interest in roleplaying and gaming originated in his adolescent fascination with mythology. During his freshman years he read anything he could find on the subject, and when he exhausted the libraries, he started to write his own stories. This was the start of the world of Glorantha. // The word mythology (Greek: μυθολογία, from μυθος mythos, a story or legend, and λογος logos, an account or speech) literally means the (oral) retelling of myths – stories that a particular culture believes to be true and that use supernatural events or characters to explain the nature of the universe and humanity. ...

Around 1974, Stafford created White Bear and Red Moon, a board game about the violent struggle between several cultures in the Dragon Pass region of Glorantha. In essence the game centered around the conflict between the barbarian Kingdom of Sartar and the invading Lunar Empire, which has remained a central theme for Gloranthan publications since then. White Bear and Red Moon (WBRM) is a fantasy boardgame set in the peculiar fantasy world of Glorantha, invented by Greg Stafford and published in 1975. ... // The word barbarian generally refers to an uncivilized, uncultured person, either in a general reference to a member of a nation or ethnos perceived as having an inferior level of civilization, or in an individual reference to a brutal, cruel, insensitive person of behavior inacceptable in a civilized society. ...

Not able to find a publisher, Stafford founded a company of his own, Chaosium, in November 1975. At the same time the game of Dungeons & Dragons (and the concept of tabletop role-playing games) was becoming extremely popular — role-players wanted to use the setting of White Bear and Red Moon in their own games, so Chaosium published RuneQuest, which was written by "Steve Perrin, Ray Turney, and Friends." For other uses, see Dungeons & Dragons (disambiguation). ... Tabletop role-playing games are a particular form of role-playing game. ... RuneQuest is a fantasy role-playing game, first published in 1978 by Chaosium. ... Steve Perrin is a game designer and technical writer/editor. ...

Despite Glorantha being the focus of his life's work, Greg considers his masterpiece to be the Arthurian chivalric role-playing game Pendragon^[1], which was published in 1985 by Chaosium. Originally, the term masterpiece (or chef doeuvre) referred to a piece of handicraft art produced by a journeyman aspiring to become a master craftsman in the old European guild system, which is partially retained today only in Germany. ... King Arthur is an important figure in the mythology of Britain. ... Woman under the Safeguard of Knighthood, allegorical Scene. ... Pendragon is a role-playing game in which players take the role of knights performing chivalric deeds in the tradition of Arthurian legend. ...

Other works

Stafford is also a practicing shaman and member of the board of directors of Shaman's Drum^[2], a journal of experiental shamanism. Stafford recently lived in Mexico for one year, tutoring English as a foreign language and exploring places of archeological interest. Shamans Drum Journal, a periodical devoted to experiential shamanism, is edited by Timothy White and published by the Cross-Cultural Shamanism Network (a nonprofit educational organization). ...

For some years, Stafford has been slowly writing several novels set in Glorantha. Novels that he is known to have been working on are Harmast's Saga, Arkat's Saga, and his "Lunar novel". Daniel Defoes Robinson Crusoe; title page of 1719 newspaper edition A novel (from French nouvelle Italian novella, new) is an extended fictional narrative in prose. ...

Trivia

Fantasy author David A. Hargrave pays homage to Stafford in the Arduin series of supplements, the most widely know example of this being the infamous Stafford's Star Bridge 9th-Level mage spell (Arduin I, page 41). David A. Hargrave, c. ... For the historical character, see Arduin of Ivrea. ... Staffords Star Bridge is a fictitious magical spell created by Arduin author David A. Hargrave. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Magi. ... For the historical character, see Arduin of Ivrea. ...

References