David Cook (game designer)

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David Cook
David "Zeb" Cook - Lucca Comics & Games 2016.jpg
Born
Where East Lansing,[1] United States
Died {{{death_date}}}
Where {{{death_place}}}
Gender {{{gender}}}
Years Active {{{years_active}}}
Roles {{{roles}}}
Parents {{{parents}}}
Spouse Helen
Birth Name
Occupation Game designer, writer
Appearances
First Appearance: {{{first}}}

Last Appearance: {{{last}}}

[[wikipedia:File:David "Zeb" Cook.jpg|thumb|right|David "Zeb" Cook (left) at GaryCon III.|]]

David "Zeb" Cook is an American game designer, best known for his work at TSR, where he was employed for over fifteen years.

Early life[edit | edit source]

Cook was born in East Lansing, and grew up on a farm in Iowa. His father was a farmer and college professor. In junior high school, Cook played wargames such as Avalon Hill's Blitzkrieg and Afrika Korps: "I was primarily a wargamer, but there wasn't any role-playing available then".[1] In college, he was introduced to the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game through the University of Iowa gaming club.[1]

Cook earned his B.A. in English (with a Theater minor) in 1977.[1] He married his high school sweetheart, Helen, with whom he had one son, Ian.[1] Cook became a high school teacher in Milligan, where his students gave him his nickname of "Zeb." The name derives from his signature, which is dominated by a stroke resembling a 'Z,' as well as from his resemblance to the James Arness character Zeb Macahan in the TV series How the West Was Won.[1]

Career[edit | edit source]

Cook responded to an ad in Dragon magazine for a game designer position at TSR. After writing a sample module section and completing the designer test that the company then used, Cook became the third full-time game designer hired by TSR.[1] Lawrence Schick was head of design and development at the time and brought Cook on board during a time of substantial growth at TSR.[2]:11 Cook later became Senior Designer. "Game designing is hard work [...] but everything worth doing is hard work. The important thing is to do it well, and to have fun while you're doing it." Cook created role-playing games, modules, family board games, card games, rulebooks, and party mystery games.[1]

He created the Partyzone mystery game line and The Spy Ring scenario.[1] The first Partyzone game was named one of the Top 100 Games of 1985 by Games Magazine. Other notable works for TSR include the role-playing games Conan the Barbarian, Crimefighters,[3] The Adventures of Indiana Jones, Star Frontiers, Sirocco, and Escape from New York. Cook also wrote several influential early adventure modules for D&D and AD&D, such as A1: Slave Pits of the Undercity, I1: Dwellers of the Forbidden City, X1: The Isle of Dread, X4: Master of the Desert Nomads, and X5: Temple of Death (the 'Desert Nomads' series). Other module work included CM4: Earthshaker!, AC5: Dragon Tiles II, AC2: D&D Game Combat Shield, B6: The Veiled Society, CB1: Conan Unchained!, and M1: Blizzard Pass for D&D and AD&D, and Top Secret module TS005: Orient Express and Boot Hill module BH2: Lost Conquistador Mine.[1]

After Tom Moldvay wrote the second edition of the D&D Basic Set, published in 1980, Cook developed the Expert Set to take characters beyond third level.[2]:11 Cook was the primary author of the original Oriental Adventures,[2]:17 ostensibly under the guidance and direction of Gary Gygax,[1] which among other things introduced the concept of non-weapon proficiencies into AD&D,[4] and he designed the far eastern setting, Kara-Tur.[5] Cook, with Jim Ward, Steve Winter, and Mike Breault, co-wrote the adventure scenario that was adapted into the game Pool of Radiance.[6] Cook was the lead designer on the 2nd edition of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game.[2]:22[7] In Dragon #118 (February 1987), Cook wrote a column titled "Who Dies?" in which he discussed which character classes may be thrown out in the revision, with the intention of provoking a response from readers.[2]:22 Cook was also the lead designer on the Planescape campaign setting.[7] When TSR was looking to replace Spelljammer after the setting ended, Slade Henson suggested a new campaign setting could be built on the first-edition Manual of the Planes; after the idea sat dormant for a year, Cook picked it up and invented Planescape as a result.[2]:26 One reviewer described Planescape as "the finest game world ever produced for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons".[8]

Cook left TSR in 1994 to work in the field of electronic media.[citation needed] He worked on the game Fallout II.[9] He was the lead designer on the 2005 City of Villains computer game for Cryptic Studios.[2]:153[7] After he left Cryptic, he joined Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment as the lead systems designer for the video game Stargate Worlds.[10] In 2001 he was inducted into the Origins Hall of Fame.[11]

As of 2013, Cook works as Content Designer at ZeniMax Online Studios on The Elder Scrolls Online.[12]

See also[edit | edit source]

References[edit | edit source]

  1. 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 "TSR Profiles". Dragon ([[wikipedia:Lake Geneva, Wisconsin|]]: TSR, Inc.) (#104): 63. December 1985. 
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 Shannon Appelcline (2011). Designers & Dragons. Mongoose Publishing. ISBN 978-1-907702-58-7. 
  3. Cook, David (March 1981). "Crimefighters". rollenspiel-almanach.de (Dragon) (47). http://www.rollenspiel-almanach.de/wp-content/uploads/Crimefighters.pdf. 
  4. * David Cook, "Oriental opens new vistas", Dragon 104:20-21, Dec 1985.
  5. Shepherd, Ashley (February 1986). "Open Box: Dungeon Modules". White Dwarf ([[wikipedia:Games Workshop|]]) (74): 9–10. ISSN 0265-8712. 
  6. The Dragon editors (September 1989). "The Envelope, Please!". Dragon (149): 20–21. 
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 Allen 'Delsyn' Rausch (2005-08-22). "City of Villains A Chat with Zeb Cook (PC)". [[wikipedia:GameSpy|]]. Retrieved 2008-02-27. 
  8. [[wikipedia:Scott Haring|]]; Andrew Hartsock (August 1994). "Pyramid Pick: Planescape". Pyramid ([[wikipedia:Steve Jackson Games|]]) #8. http://www.sjgames.com/pyramid/login/article.html?id=803. Retrieved 2008-02-26. 
  9. Cook, Dave "Zeb" (2007). "Toon". In Lowder, James. Hobby Games: The 100 Best. [[wikipedia:Green Ronin Publishing|]]. pp. 327–330. ISBN 978-1-932442-96-0. 
  10. Jeff Woleslagle; Phil Comeau (2006-05-11). "Stargate Worlds Q&A with David "Zeb" Cook From Cities to Worlds". TenTonHammer.com. 
  11. Damon White (2003-06-28). "Winners of Origins Game Awards". GamingReport.com. Retrieved 2008-02-27. 
  12. "Elder Scrolls". edlerscrollsonline.com. 2013. 

External links[edit | edit source]



Category:Dungeons & Dragons game designers Category:Living people Category:People from East Lansing Category:Role-playing game designers Category:Year of birth missing