Bill Slavicsek

Bill Slavicsek was born and raised in New York City.[2] Slavicsek was a comic book, horror, and science fiction fan as a boy: "Some of my earliest memories involve looking at issues of Marvel Comics, drawing my own comics, and watching old SF and horror movies on TV".[2] Interested in gaming from an early age, Slavicsek was introduced to roleplaying games in 1977 when he discovered Dungeons & Dragons.[3] Originally intending to pursue a career as a comic book artist, Slavicsek switched to journalism and communication at St. John's University.[4]

After working for a year at a community newspaper, Slavicsek was hired by West End Games as an editor in 1986.[4] In 1987 the company secured the license to publish a Star Wars roleplaying game, a project which Slavicsek oversaw as an editor and developer.[4] Slavicsek oversaw the Star Wars line for its first year.[5]^:190 In 1988 he was promoted to Creative and Editorial Director for WEG.[4] He co-created the Torg game with Greg Gorden,[2] published in 1990, and co-authored the novel Stormknights, which was set in the Torg universe. Slavicsek left West End later in 1990.[5]^:193

In 1991, Slavicsek began working as a freelancer, and was hired as a designer/editor by TSR in 1993.[2] At TSR, he designed the Alternity game with Rich Baker, as well as the Revised Dark Sun Campaign Setting, and The Nightmare Lands for the Ravenloft setting.[2]

"Some of my personal bests include the pair of Planescape adventures I wrote - The Deva Spark and Harbinger House... Planescape brought out the best in the people who worked on it. I'm also extremely proud of the Alternity game system. I worked with a great team that featured my co-designer Rich Baker, editor Kim Mohan, David Eckelberry, Jim Butler, and the great visual contributions of rk post."[2]

For much of the 1990s he was working simultaneously for both WEG and TSR as an editor and designer on various projects. He wrote A Guide to the Star Wars Universe, a definitive reference to Star Wars movies, books, and games, which was published by Del Rey in 1994.[2] Slavicsek is considered one of the world's leading experts on Star Wars,[4] and has written the second and third editions of A Guide to the Star Wars Universe.

By the end of 1997, Slavicsek was the Director of the TSR Product Group for Wizards of the Coast; that job was later divided in two, making him the Director of Roleplaying Game design.[2] Peter Adkison selected Slavicsek to be the head of RPG research and development.[5]^:282 Richard Baker and Slavicsek designed the Alternity sci-fi RPG for TSR to replace their Amazing Engine game, and Wizards published the game in 1997.[5]^:284 Peter Adkison left the third edition Dungeons & Dragons design work to Slavicsek and a group of ex-TSR employees.[5]^:286 In December 2000, Hasbro told Wizards to cut 10% of their staff; Slavicsek was the "Director of Category" overseeing a team of about 60 people, and opted to close down the L.A. office of Last Unicorn Games.[5]^:317 By the time of the publication of the d20 edition of the Star Wars Roleplaying Game in 2000, Slavicsek held the title of Vice President and Director of RPG R&D for Wizards of the Coast. The Eberron Campaign Setting (2004) was produced by Keith Baker alongside James Wyatt and Slavicsek.[5]^:294 As the Director of R&D for Dungeons & Dragons, Slavicsek began thinking about a fourth edition of D&D as early as 2005, when he organized a team to work on some early designs, headed by Rob Heinsoo and also containing Andy Collins and James Wyatt.[5]^:297 Slavicsek and Mike Mearls designed the Castle Ravenloft Board Game (2010).[5]^:302 Slavicsek announced his departure from Wizards of the Coast on June 23, 2011.[6]

Slavicsek became a writer and content designer at ZeniMax Online Studios, which developed and released The Elder Scrolls Online MMORPG.[7]

• The Mark of Nerath (2010)

• RPG Countdown:[8] 11 March 2009[9] "Dungeon Delve"
• Never Tell Me the Pods: 21 September 2016[10] "Episode 25 - May The Source Be With You (Bill Slavicsek)"