About the Designer

Jonathan has several roleplaying games to his credit. In 1987, he and Mark Rein-Hagen wrote and published Ars Magica, a game about medieval wizards. The game, which treats magic in depth and detail, won the Gamer's Choice Award for best fantasy roleplaying game of 1987. Jonathan helped develop support material for Ars Magica until 1989, when he left the partnership. Atlas Games now publishes Ars Magica and its support products.

Jonathan's next RPG was Over the Edge, published by Atlas Games in 1992. Over the Edge, inspired by such authors as William S. Burroughs and Phillip K. Dick, offers a bizarre and twisted vision of the modern world. Its rules have been alternately praised and condemned for their free-form nature, and its darkly weird setting is likewise loved and despised. Also in 1992, Jonathan revised the rules for the third edition of the game Talislanta, which WotC published. In 1994, Jonathan and John Nephew designed On the Edge, a trading card game based on Over the Edge. He also designed Shadows, the second expansion for On the Edge. In 1995, Games magazine named On the Edge the top new trading card game.

In spring of 1994, Jonathan joined WotC to coordinate roleplaying design. Everway debuted the summer of 1995. He personally oversaw the development of support and licensed products: the 1996 calendar, FPG's Companion Collector Cards, the Spherewalker Source Cards, and the Spherewalker Sourcebook.

In December of 1995, Jonathan transferred to the R&D team at WotC and worked for two years on miscellaneous trading card games, including Magic: the Gathering. In 1997, when Wizards of the Coast acquired TSR, Jonathan returned to roleplaying as the lead designer on Dungeons & Dragons, Third Edition.

• Ars Magica (RPG), Lion Rampant. 1987 (co-author)
• Broken Covenant of Calebais (ArM), Lion Rampant. 1988 (co-author)
• Stormrider Jump-Start Kit (ArM), Lion Rampant. 1989 (co-author)
• Covenants (ArM), Lion Rampant. 1990 (co-author)
• Order of Hermes (ArM), White Wolf. 1990
• Over the Edge (RPG), Atlas Games. 1992
• New Faces (OTE), Atlas Games. 1992
• Talislanta Guidebook, 3rd edition, Wizards of the Coast. 1992 (design contributions)
• Scent of the Beast (Talislanta), WotC. 1992
• City of Gold (AD&D), TSR. 1992
• Friend or Foe? (OTE), Atlas Games. 1993 (editor)
• On the Edge (CCG), Atlas Games. 1994 (co-designer)
• Houses of Hermes (ArM), WotC. 1994
• Black Spine (AD&D), TSR. 1994 (wrote one adventure)
• Apocalypse, Mayfair. 1994
• Strangers in Prax (RuneQuest), Avalon Hill. 1994 (wrote one adventure)
• Shadows (On the Edge), Atlas Games. 1995
• Everway Game Set (RPG), WotC. 1995
• Myth of Self (OTE), Atlas Games. 1996 (wrote one adventure)
• Magic: the Gathering Quick Start Set, WotC. 1996
• Dungeons & Dragons, Third Edition, WotC. 2000 (lead designer)