Tabletop Game Designers Association

Tim Kask
December 30
First Employee at TSR, First Editor at Dragon Magazine

Julian Mayot
November 18
Founder, Blue Orange Games

Pete Knifton
October 30
Artist for Games Workshop

Burt Meyer
October 30
Designer of iconic toys including Mouse Trap, Lite Brite, and Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots

‘Crazy Lady’ Melissa Morello
October 24
Co-owner, Iron Wind Metals

Rob Weiland
October 13
Journalist at EN World

Daniel Estes
September 24
Content Creator on Rose Estes’s (Endless Quest game books) work

Darryl Elliott
August 24
Artist for White Wolf and Others

Matthew Street
August 15
Artist for Games Workshop

Mark Painter
August 12
Artist/Art Director for TSR and Wizards of the Coast

William ‘Bud’ Baird
August 10
Designer for Call of Cthulhu, Bud’s RPG Review

Karen McLarney
August 8
Partner at Guardians of Order

Alan Hassenfield
July 29
CEO of Hasbro

Alfred Leonardi
July 16
Designer and Originator of “Games in a Book” including Ace of Aces and Lost Worlds series

Andy ‘Cosmo Joe’ Watkins
July 14
Artist at Studio 6D6

Scott Haring
July 1
Designer/Editor of Dragonlance, Car Wars, and Heroquest Expansions, Steve Jackson Games and TSR

Tim Pollard
June 27
Designer/Editor/Writer for Games Workshop

François Froideval
June 19
RPG Designer for TSR. Editor at Casus Belli Magazine

Tom Shaw
June 15
Designer of Stalingrad, Blitzkrieg, Football Strategy, and others. President of Avalon Hill, and Founder of The General magazine.

Paul ‘Fat Bloke’ Sawyer
March 27
Editor of White Dwarf Magazine. Co-founder of Warlord Games

Jack Greene
March 13
Designer of Bismarck and other naval wargames. Charles S. Roberts Hall-of-Fame inductee

Ernie Gygax
February 28
Writer/Designer/Playtester for Dungeons & Dragons. Eldest son of Gary Gygax

Giles Garniet
February 27
Publisher: Ubik, Edge

Randall Lemon
February 24
Writer for RPGA/Polyhedron

Rodger MacGowan
February 22
Renowned war game artist for Avalon Hill, GMT Games, and others. Iconic covers include Panzerblitz, Squad Leader, and The Russian Campaign

Jon Giordano
February 9
RPG Designer for Triphammer Games

Howard Andrew Jones
January 16
Writer of Pathfinder novels

Alan Emrich
January 7
Designer of many games including A House Divided, Nemo’s War, and the Totaler Krieg Series. Coined the term "4X". Founder of Victory Point Games.

In Memoriam 2025

Designers build on the creativity and hard work of those who came before. TTGDA would like to recognize those in the tabletop industry who we lost last year. We are deeply grateful for their contributions, and are diminished by their loss.

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Upper Deck has announced that they have acquired the Harry Potter license for a series of trading cards. They have not yet said that they will be using this license for games, and we urge them to refrain from doing so, to help keep gaming a welcoming environment.