User:Lawrence Schick

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Lawrence Schick is a game designer and writer mostly associated with role-playing games.

Schick joined TSR Inc., publisher of Dungeons & Dragons, in early 1979 as a game designer. TSR immediately published his submission sample, a dungeon scenario titled “White Plume Mountain,” as Advanced D&D module S2. It was well received, and even today regularly finds its way onto Top Ten D&D Scenario lists.

Schick worked on the original “Dungeon Masters Guide” with Gary Gygax, as well as other D&D and AD&D titles, and by the end of 1979 was head of TSR’s design studio. Products published during his tenure include the D&D “Basic” and “Expert” sets, and the original “Deities & Demigods” and “Fiend Folio” books. After co-designing the “Star Frontiers” game with David “Zeb” Cook, Schick left TSR in 1981.

Schick joined Coleco Industries in 1982, becoming one of the first paper game designers to make the jump to video and computer games. For Coleco he designed action games for the ColecoVision, Atari 2600, and Intellivision systems, as well as the Adam and early IBM PC computers.

Schick left Coleco in 1985 and, after freelancing for a while (for Activision, among others) joined MicroProse Software in early 1987 as a game designer and producer. He was at MicroProse for seven years; his titles for that company include “Airborne Ranger,” “Sword of the Samurai” (with Sid Meier), and “Task Force 1942.”

At the beginning of 1994 Schick moved to start-up Magnet Interactive Studios as Executive Producer of Entertainment Software, where he oversaw CD-ROM games produced for the PC, Mac, and 3DO, including Andy Looney’s “Icebreaker.”

In 1995 Schick joined America Online as General Manager of the new AOL Games Channel, and for the next nearly five years steered the Internet giant’s strategy in the nascent field of online games, emphasizing popular chat-oriented games like “Slingo” that reached millions of players. He was promoted to Executive Director of Interactive Entertainment 1998.

In 1999 Schick oversaw a deal that sold off AOL’s online games empire to Electronic Arts. He then declared victory and retired from the games business for a time, focusing on writing historical fiction and pursuing his interest in theater-style live-action role-playing. Schick writes and edits adventure fiction under the name “Lawrence Ellsworth.”

In 2007 Ken Rolston (lead designer of “Oblivion”) joined Brian Reynolds (“Rise of Nations”) at Big Huge Games to create a new triple-A console RPG, “Ascendant,” which eventually became "Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning." Schick, a long-time friend of both Rolston and Reynolds, joined the team as a Senior Systems Designer. He was later Acting Lead Narrative Designer on the project, before leaving Big Huge Games in April 2009.

In May 2009 Schick joined ZeniMax Online Studios as Lead Content Designer on "The Elder Scrolls Online." In 2010 he was promoted to Lead Writer on the project, and in 2012 became Lead Loremaster.