Aaron Allston | |
---|---|
Born | Corsicana, Texas, U.S. | December 8, 1960
Died | February 27, 2014 Springfield, Missouri, U.S. | (aged 53)
Resting place | Oakwood Cemetery (Corsicana, Texas) |
Occupation | Writer, game designer |
Genre | Tabletop role-playing games, fantasy, science fiction |
Aaron Dale Allston (December 8, 1960 – February 27, 2014) was an American game designer and author of many science fiction books, notably Star Wars novels. [1] His works as a game designer include game supplements for role-playing games, several of which served to establish the basis for products and subsequent development of TSR's Dungeons & Dragons game setting Mystara. His later works as a novelist include those of the X-Wing series: Wraith Squadron, Iron Fist, Solo Command, Starfighters of Adumar, and Mercy Kill. He wrote two entries in the New Jedi Order series: Enemy Lines I: Rebel Dream and Enemy Lines II: Rebel Stand. Allston wrote three of the nine Legacy of the Force novels: Betrayal, Exile, and Fury, and three of the nine Fate of the Jedi novels: Outcast, Backlash, and Conviction.
Allston was born December 8, 1960, in Corsicana, Texas, to Tom Dale Allston and Rose Binford Boehm. [2] [3] Allston moved all over Texas in his youth and graduated from high school in Denton. [4] An avid fan of science fiction from an early age, by high school he was the secretary and reporter for his high school science fiction club. [5] Allston moved to Austin in 1979 and attended the University of Texas. [4]
Allston was a circulation manager, assistant editor, and editor of Space Gamer magazine, [6] and by 1983 was a full-time freelance game designer. [7] He served as editor of Space Gamer from issues 52 (June 1982) to 65 (September/October 1983),[ citation needed] and as editor of Fantasy Gamer for the first issue (August/September 1983) and co-editor of the second issue (December/January 1984).[ citation needed] During Allston's tenure as editor, Space Gamer won the H.G. Wells Award for Best Professional Role-Playing Magazine in 1982. [6] Allston authored the book Autoduel Champions in 1983, which crossed over Champions by Hero Games and Car Wars by Steve Jackson Games. [8] Allston helped launch the Fantasy Gamer spinoff magazine. [9] He co-wrote the computer game Savage Empire, which Game Player magazine named the Best PC Fantasy RPG in 1990. [6] He authored the Rules Cyclopedia (1991), a revision and compilation for the Dungeons & Dragons game. [10] He branched into fiction, and in the mid-1990s wrote five novels. [7]
He began writing for the Star Wars X-Wing series in 1997, when the primary sequence writer Michael Stackpole could not handle the entire workload. [4] Allston produced a new edition of Champions for Hero Games in 2002. [11] In 2006, he launched The Legacy of the Force series with a hardcover entitled Betrayal. [4]
In 2005, Allston made his directorial debut on the independent film Deadbacks, which he also wrote and produced. [4] The film went into post-production but was never released. [12]
Allston lived in Round Rock, Texas. [13] For a short time, he worked for the Austin American-Statesman newspaper. [7]
In early April 2009 Allston had a heart attack and underwent an emergency quadruple bypass surgery, [14] while on the book signing tour for Outcast, [15] the first book in the Fate of the Jedi series.
On February 27, 2014, Allston collapsed during an appearance at VisionCon in Branson, Missouri, apparently from heart failure. [16] He died later that day in Springfield, Missouri, at the age of 53. [3] [16]
Aaron Allston | |
---|---|
Born | Corsicana, Texas, U.S. | December 8, 1960
Died | February 27, 2014 Springfield, Missouri, U.S. | (aged 53)
Resting place | Oakwood Cemetery (Corsicana, Texas) |
Occupation | Writer, game designer |
Genre | Tabletop role-playing games, fantasy, science fiction |
Aaron Dale Allston (December 8, 1960 – February 27, 2014) was an American game designer and author of many science fiction books, notably Star Wars novels. [1] His works as a game designer include game supplements for role-playing games, several of which served to establish the basis for products and subsequent development of TSR's Dungeons & Dragons game setting Mystara. His later works as a novelist include those of the X-Wing series: Wraith Squadron, Iron Fist, Solo Command, Starfighters of Adumar, and Mercy Kill. He wrote two entries in the New Jedi Order series: Enemy Lines I: Rebel Dream and Enemy Lines II: Rebel Stand. Allston wrote three of the nine Legacy of the Force novels: Betrayal, Exile, and Fury, and three of the nine Fate of the Jedi novels: Outcast, Backlash, and Conviction.
Allston was born December 8, 1960, in Corsicana, Texas, to Tom Dale Allston and Rose Binford Boehm. [2] [3] Allston moved all over Texas in his youth and graduated from high school in Denton. [4] An avid fan of science fiction from an early age, by high school he was the secretary and reporter for his high school science fiction club. [5] Allston moved to Austin in 1979 and attended the University of Texas. [4]
Allston was a circulation manager, assistant editor, and editor of Space Gamer magazine, [6] and by 1983 was a full-time freelance game designer. [7] He served as editor of Space Gamer from issues 52 (June 1982) to 65 (September/October 1983),[ citation needed] and as editor of Fantasy Gamer for the first issue (August/September 1983) and co-editor of the second issue (December/January 1984).[ citation needed] During Allston's tenure as editor, Space Gamer won the H.G. Wells Award for Best Professional Role-Playing Magazine in 1982. [6] Allston authored the book Autoduel Champions in 1983, which crossed over Champions by Hero Games and Car Wars by Steve Jackson Games. [8] Allston helped launch the Fantasy Gamer spinoff magazine. [9] He co-wrote the computer game Savage Empire, which Game Player magazine named the Best PC Fantasy RPG in 1990. [6] He authored the Rules Cyclopedia (1991), a revision and compilation for the Dungeons & Dragons game. [10] He branched into fiction, and in the mid-1990s wrote five novels. [7]
He began writing for the Star Wars X-Wing series in 1997, when the primary sequence writer Michael Stackpole could not handle the entire workload. [4] Allston produced a new edition of Champions for Hero Games in 2002. [11] In 2006, he launched The Legacy of the Force series with a hardcover entitled Betrayal. [4]
In 2005, Allston made his directorial debut on the independent film Deadbacks, which he also wrote and produced. [4] The film went into post-production but was never released. [12]
Allston lived in Round Rock, Texas. [13] For a short time, he worked for the Austin American-Statesman newspaper. [7]
In early April 2009 Allston had a heart attack and underwent an emergency quadruple bypass surgery, [14] while on the book signing tour for Outcast, [15] the first book in the Fate of the Jedi series.
On February 27, 2014, Allston collapsed during an appearance at VisionCon in Branson, Missouri, apparently from heart failure. [16] He died later that day in Springfield, Missouri, at the age of 53. [3] [16]