Saturday, August 14, 2021

RIP Steve Perrin (1946–2021)

As some of you have no doubt heard, Steve Perrin, one of designers of RuneQuest (and, through it, Basic Role-Playing and all the other RPGs based on it), has died at the age of 75. I don't know that I can do him a better tribute than that posted on the Chaosium blog yesterday, so I'm simply going to quote from it:

He is one of our Great Old Ones. An innovative genius who helped pave the way for us to exist today, delighting gamers while they sit around a table, in person or online, exploring stories and adventures together, weaving new tales of derring-do. RuneQuest and Superworld were his children, and his imprint on so many of our other games is indelibly present.

Many of us grew up playing his games. He was the uncle we admired, envied, and listened to for his wise counsel. In the last few years, as a new edition of RuneQuest was born he was there, his wisdom and experience reminding us of the simple, pure, and wondrous origins of the magic of roleplaying. How can you say thank you for that?

My late father regularly used to say, "No one is getting any younger." I find myself thinking of that more and more lately, not just as I grow older but as so many of the people I knew and looked up to as a younger person pass beyond the veil. Steve Perrin will be missed by those who knew and loved him, whether personally or through the games he created or inspired others to create. All things considered, that's not a bad legacy. 

14 comments:

  1. I'm just so sad upon hearing this.

    As I have posted elsewhere- He and Gary were those most responsible for the hours upon hours of my RPG fun in the 1970s and early 1980s. RQ was a huge turning point for me in gaming and helped me realize what I wanted out of gaming.

    For me, the absolute worst part of getting old is watching all those who have meant something to me pass on and leave this place.

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  2. This news saddens and gladdens me. I am saddened by the passing of a person whose journey on this planet has ended. Saddened by the loss his family and loved ones will feel as they miss him. But I am also gladdened (my word) by the memory of all the fun Mr. Perrin brought to me, my friends and countless others through his work in our hobby. Few of us touch so many lives in such positive ways and Steve Perrin shall be remembered as one of our greats.

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  3. Very sad news.
    Mark Graybill posted on FB that Steve was working on a new edition of SuperWorld, an often overlooked and under-rated supers RPG in my opinion.

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    1. Agreed. Perhaps it will get finished as a tribute to him. One can hope.

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    2. My group balked at trying SuperWorld after we had a few months of Champions run by one of the other people in the group which didn't go over so well. So unfortunately I never got to run SW after I purchased it. I always thought it *looked* like it would work better for us than Champions and V&V did, but they didn't want any part of Supers until I got ahold of the original Marvel game by TSR.

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  4. Steve was the one person in the industry that meant the most to me. He and Luise have been ill for a long time so there is no surprise, but there is still sadness.

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  5. Thanks for answering all of my stupid questions, Steve. Both you and Luise are in my prayers.

    Ave, Steve Perrin

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  6. Steve Perrin was one of the most unappreciated game designers of all time, but his contributions are enormous and stretched even beyond the hobby. If it wasn't for Superworld, their may have been no Wild Card book series.

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  7. As I had stated over at the OD&D 74 Proboards- Steve also did some freelance work for D&D in the 80s- he wrote some of the best products in the early Forgotten Realms line- The Magister (with Ed), Dreams of the Red Wizards (FR6) and Under Illefarn (N4).

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  8. GRRM posted a very nice eulogy about Steve at his website.

    https://georgerrmartin.com/notablog/

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  9. Steve will definitely be missed. While Greg was definitely the more visible person, Steve clearly had a major role (though I'm not sure back in the day I understood how much the rules were his). I was definitely aware that there were two house Glorantha campaigns, Greg's and Steve's, in part due to their mention in the APAs. Steve and Greg contributed the only RPG I have played/ran in every decade since it came out in 1978 (D&D took a break during the 90s), and in fact, I still run 1978 RQ1 and have never ran any other edition (though I have borrowed some of RQ2, and even a few bits from RQ3).

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  10. Very sorry to hear this. I used to run into Steve and his wife at local SF Bay area science fiction shows. They were both lovely people. R.I.P.

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  11. Ah, no. I just found about this today. That is so sad.

    I never met Steve in person, but we exchanged letters and email a number of times over the years when we worked on adjacent projects (including his very interesting but abortive GURPS Supers draft...) and he was unfailingly charming, professional, generous of spirit, and a fun correspondent. He was also kind: when he heard I was looking for freelance work, he wrote an unprompted endorsement, even though we'd been out of touch for years. His pioneering design work on Rune Quest and the BRP games was simply brilliant, and hugely influential. Rest in peace, Steve.

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