Jeff Martin (game designer)
Encyclopedia
Jeff Martin is an American Game Designer and Entrepreneur
best known as the founder of True Adventures
and President of Dwarven Forge.
Martin has numerous industry credits, not limited to having front page articles in Polyhedron
, as well as being a finalist for the Diana Jones Award for Excellence in Gaming. Martin has authored or co-authored dozens of modules for various platforms including AD&D, True Dungeon, and Marvel Superheroes.
Martin has been the president of Dwarven Forge LLC since 2004, a company that specializes in hand painted miniature terrain. He has been the lead developer, or co-developer on several Dwarven Forge miniature terrain sets.
Indy every year, but he enjoys the company of his family and friends whenever possible. Martin grew up in a thriving gaming community, having a fond affinity for hobby games from a young age.
Martin has been attending the Gen Con
gaming convention for over 20 years, and has been a part of the gaming community for just as long. Martin won the first ever RPGA
D&D Masters Tournament at Gen Con 18, in 1985. He was also part of a small team of designers involved in the play testing of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons second edition.
When asked what his childhood heroes were:
Martin started playing Dungeons and Dragons in 1978 when he happened upon a rulebook at a neighbor's house. He has been playing D&D pretty regularly since, as well as enjoying some classic war games like Third Reich and Dawn Patrol
. Martin has dabbled in every trend that has hit the market except collectible card games, as he said "I was too long an old fart to play them (laugh)."
When asked what his favorite games are:
numerous times, including front page articles. Martin authored the following Polyhedron articles:
"ARCANE ACADAME"
• Creating Adventure Locales - Issue 34
• Expanding the Thief's Abilities - Issue 41
• Four Rules for a Better Convention - Issue 32
• Playing Clerics and Druids - Issue 36
• Playing Fighters - Issue 39
• Playing Magic-Users and Illusionists - Issue 38
• Playing Thieves, Assassins and Monks - Issue 37
• Preventing the Death of a Campaign - Issue 33
• Using Magic and Mundane Items - Issue 40
"Adventure Among the Clouds"
• Adventure Among the Clouds - Issue 28
"The Investigators"
• The Investigators (module) - Issue 39
"Serendipity"
• Serendipity Marvel Superheroes module - Issue 31
"Beware the Golems"
• Beware the Golems - Issue 30
Martin started working in the Dwarven Forge booth at Gen Con
as a volunteer in 2000, when he noticed Dwarven Forge creator Stefan Pokorny scrambling with others to get the booth open in time. He ended up giving up the rest of his time during Gen Con
to help, due to the big response created by the release of D&D 3.0. Over the next few years Martin managed the Dwarven Forge booths at Origins and Gen Con Indy. Eventually in 2004 Pokorny asked Martin to manage the "chocolate factory" while Pokorny stepped back from the day-to-day operations. Since then, Martin has changed the Dwarven Forge business model from a classic "sold in store" approach, to a "direct to gamers" distribution via their website and game conventions. Martin has developed many sets inside his tenure at Dwarven Forge, and he is especially proud of the Den of Evil and Realm of the Ancient limited-edition product lines.
When asked about the creation of Dwarven Forge, Martin said:
When asked about Dwarven Forge customers:
Martin has been the Lead Designer, or Co-Developer on the following Dwarven Forge sets:
Fantasy Floor Set - MM-021
Fantasy Starter Set - MM-022
Den of Evil Room and Passage Set - MM-023
Cavernous River and Walls Set - MM-024
Cavernous Lake Set - MM-025
Medieval Building Set - MM-026
Den of Evil Wicked Additions Set - MM-027
Medieval Building Expansion Set - MM-028
Den of Evil Room Set - MM-030
Cavernous Water Expansion Set -MM-031
Cavernous Chasm Set - MM-032
Realm of the Ancients Set - MM-034
Realm of the Ancients 2 Set - MM-035
Sci-Fi Alpha Expansion Set - SF-003
Sci-Fi Beta Expansion Set - SF-004
Sci-Fi Gamma Expansion Set - SF-005
Indianapolis. Not only does he author every adventure to date, but he also builds most of the props and sets used for the event. True Dungeon started at Gen Con
Indy in 2003, and has grown wildly since then. True Dungeon has held the record as the biggest event at Gen Con
since 2005, selling over 4000 tickets a year for the annual event. In addition to the fantasy styled True Dungeon, Martin worked with Upper Deck Entertainment in 2004 and 2005 to produce True Heroes, an event similar in scale to True Dungeon, but with a superhero theme. Martin has authored the following True Adventures Modules, with synopsis:
TD1 - "The Five Aspects" 2003
• The party is lost in a savage land, and to survive, they must escape a druidical proving ground.
TD2 - "Return to Hommlet" 2004
• The adventurers must explore the wilderness north of Hommlet to find an evil wizard who has convinced a group of lizardmen to destroy Hommlet.
TH1 - True Heroes "Wanted: Wolverine" 2004
• The party must discover who is planning an evil attack on the United Nations.
TH2 - True Heroes "Avengers Assemble!" 2005
• The mighty Avengers must unite to save the world from a mysterious Super Villain.
TD3 - "Battle Below Greyhawk" 2005
• The adventurers must delve deep under Castle Greyhawk to find a clue to help the party in the opposite adventure "Assault Above Greyhawk"
TD4 - "Assault Above Greyhawk" 2005
• The adventurers must travel into the bizarre tower of Greyhawk to stop an evil artifact from destroying the city of Greyhawk
TD5 - "Escape the Spider Cult" 2006
• The first adventure in a three year story arc. The party must escape the clutches of an evil cult, and warn the city of a coming invasion.
TD6 - "Race Across Greyhawk" 2007
• The second adventure in a three year story arc. The adventurers must secretly travel across Greyhawk to the tower of an evil conspirator to learn more about the coming siege.
TD7 - "Hope for the Lost" 2008
• The third adventure in a three year story arc. The adventurers must infiltrate the headquarters of an evil army to banish their dark lord Iuz, and save the city of Greyhawk.
TD8 - "The Five Aspects (Revised)" 2009
• An new and fresh update to the classic 2003 module: "The Five Aspects" featured a new ending with two possible outcomes.
TD9 - "With Smoak Comes Fire" 2009
• The first adventure in a two year story arc. The wizard Bibwik sends the adventurers on a quest to construct a protective medallion that will give them the upper hand against the crafty red dragon, Smoak.
TD10- "DragonWard" 2010
• The second adventure in a two year story arc (1). The adventurers must construct a protective medallion to give themselves a chance against the crafty red dragon, Smoak.
TD11 -"The Evading Hilt" 2010
• The second adventure in a two year story arc (2). While the party in "Dragonward" distracts the dragon Smoak with a deadly melee, this party must sneak into his lair and recover an evil artifact.
Gen Con
owner Peter Adkison
has said about True Dungeon.,
Martin is also the creator and designer of the unique True Dungeon game component known as True Dungeon Treasure Tokens. These have been printed in yearly editions since 2003, and have created their own secondary market on Ebay; One token went for over $1,000 at auction. Martin is the lead content designer and co-graphic designer for these full color in-game pieces. Every edition since 2004 has sold out.
Martin is also co-videographer and co-editor for the True Dungeon teaser trailers.
, and Knights of the Dinner Table
.
Entrepreneur
An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...
best known as the founder of True Adventures
True Adventures
True Adventures, Ltd., is a role-playing game company started by Jeff Martin. It operates two entertainment venues at Gen Con Indy: True Dungeon and True Dungeon Fantasy Tavern. True Adventures is notable because their signature event, True Dungeon, is "the single most popular event" at Gen Con,...
and President of Dwarven Forge.
Martin has numerous industry credits, not limited to having front page articles in Polyhedron
Polyhedron
In elementary geometry a polyhedron is a geometric solid in three dimensions with flat faces and straight edges...
, as well as being a finalist for the Diana Jones Award for Excellence in Gaming. Martin has authored or co-authored dozens of modules for various platforms including AD&D, True Dungeon, and Marvel Superheroes.
Martin has been the president of Dwarven Forge LLC since 2004, a company that specializes in hand painted miniature terrain. He has been the lead developer, or co-developer on several Dwarven Forge miniature terrain sets.
Personal life
Martin was born in Mt. Carmel Illinois and currently lives in southern Illinois with his wife and two young children. His main hobby is presenting the True Dungeon event at Gen ConGen Con
Gen Con is one of the largest and most prominent annual gaming conventions in North America. It features traditional pen-and-paper, board, and card-style games, including role-playing games, miniatures wargames, board games, live action role-playing games, collectible card games, non-collectible...
Indy every year, but he enjoys the company of his family and friends whenever possible. Martin grew up in a thriving gaming community, having a fond affinity for hobby games from a young age.
Martin has been attending the Gen Con
Gen Con
Gen Con is one of the largest and most prominent annual gaming conventions in North America. It features traditional pen-and-paper, board, and card-style games, including role-playing games, miniatures wargames, board games, live action role-playing games, collectible card games, non-collectible...
gaming convention for over 20 years, and has been a part of the gaming community for just as long. Martin won the first ever RPGA
RPGA
The RPGA , is part of the organized play arm of Wizards of the Coast that organizes and sanctions role-playing games worldwide, principally under the d20 system...
D&D Masters Tournament at Gen Con 18, in 1985. He was also part of a small team of designers involved in the play testing of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons second edition.
When asked what his childhood heroes were:
"My heroes growing up were Col. Hogan and Capt. Kirk. I loved the fact that they could always think themselves out of a situation. It kind of set me up to love D&D since the game greatly promotes creative problem solving."
Martin started playing Dungeons and Dragons in 1978 when he happened upon a rulebook at a neighbor's house. He has been playing D&D pretty regularly since, as well as enjoying some classic war games like Third Reich and Dawn Patrol
Dawn Patrol
Dawn Patrol is the debut album by Night Ranger released in 1982. The band was named Ranger during the recording of the album. The first issues of the album were printed and ready to be shipped when it was discovered that there was a country band from California with the same name...
. Martin has dabbled in every trend that has hit the market except collectible card games, as he said "I was too long an old fart to play them (laugh)."
When asked what his favorite games are:
"Of course, there is D&D in all its incarnations as well as Third Reich, Dawn PatrolDawn PatrolDawn Patrol is the debut album by Night Ranger released in 1982. The band was named Ranger during the recording of the album. The first issues of the album were printed and ready to be shipped when it was discovered that there was a country band from California with the same name...
, Hyborian War(PBM), Car WarsCar WarsCar Wars is a vehicle combat simulation game developed by Steve Jackson Games. It was first published in late 1980 .-Game play:In Car Wars, players assume control of one or more automobiles, which may include any powered vehicle, from motorcycles to semi trucks. Optional rules include piloting...
, BattletechBattleTechBattleTech is a wargaming and science fiction franchise launched by FASA Corporation in 1984, acquired by WizKids in 2000, and owned since 2003 by Topps. The series began with FASA's debut of the board game BattleTech by Jordan Weisman and L...
and Thief(PC). I have designed several home-brew games, with a slider dice game known as Regent being my favorite."
Publishing in Polyhedron
Martin has been published in the gaming magazine PolyhedronPolyhedron
In elementary geometry a polyhedron is a geometric solid in three dimensions with flat faces and straight edges...
numerous times, including front page articles. Martin authored the following Polyhedron articles:
"ARCANE ACADAME"
• Creating Adventure Locales - Issue 34
• Expanding the Thief's Abilities - Issue 41
• Four Rules for a Better Convention - Issue 32
• Playing Clerics and Druids - Issue 36
• Playing Fighters - Issue 39
• Playing Magic-Users and Illusionists - Issue 38
• Playing Thieves, Assassins and Monks - Issue 37
• Preventing the Death of a Campaign - Issue 33
• Using Magic and Mundane Items - Issue 40
"Adventure Among the Clouds"
• Adventure Among the Clouds - Issue 28
"The Investigators"
• The Investigators (module) - Issue 39
"Serendipity"
• Serendipity Marvel Superheroes module - Issue 31
"Beware the Golems"
• Beware the Golems - Issue 30
Dwarven Forge
Martin has been closely involved with the design of the Dwarven Forge Miniature Terrain. Dwarven Forge is a company that specializes in hand painted, ultra high quality miniature terrain for tabletop gaming. While Dwarven Forge used to specialize in fantasy settings, it has branched out recently, releasing three unique science fiction terrain sets.Martin started working in the Dwarven Forge booth at Gen Con
Gen Con
Gen Con is one of the largest and most prominent annual gaming conventions in North America. It features traditional pen-and-paper, board, and card-style games, including role-playing games, miniatures wargames, board games, live action role-playing games, collectible card games, non-collectible...
as a volunteer in 2000, when he noticed Dwarven Forge creator Stefan Pokorny scrambling with others to get the booth open in time. He ended up giving up the rest of his time during Gen Con
Gen Con
Gen Con is one of the largest and most prominent annual gaming conventions in North America. It features traditional pen-and-paper, board, and card-style games, including role-playing games, miniatures wargames, board games, live action role-playing games, collectible card games, non-collectible...
to help, due to the big response created by the release of D&D 3.0. Over the next few years Martin managed the Dwarven Forge booths at Origins and Gen Con Indy. Eventually in 2004 Pokorny asked Martin to manage the "chocolate factory" while Pokorny stepped back from the day-to-day operations. Since then, Martin has changed the Dwarven Forge business model from a classic "sold in store" approach, to a "direct to gamers" distribution via their website and game conventions. Martin has developed many sets inside his tenure at Dwarven Forge, and he is especially proud of the Den of Evil and Realm of the Ancient limited-edition product lines.
When asked about the creation of Dwarven Forge, Martin said:
"Dwarven Forge was the brainchild of a talented artist and DMDungeon MasterIn the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, the Dungeon Master is the game organizer and participant in charge of creating the details and challenges of a given adventure, while maintaining a realistic continuity of events...
Stefan Pokorny who wanted to make something really cool for his players. He dreamed up a modular 3D tile system and he chose polystone as the best medium for his sculptures. He took a huge risk placing an order for his creations, and the responses was incredible. It has been 13 years now, and the demand for his art continues to grow." " The pieces are first sculpted by Stefan and then cast in rock-hard polystone. He then paints the masters and sends them off to a casting house that mass produces the pieces based on the original masters. "
When asked about Dwarven Forge customers:
"They are incredibly loyal and patient! Stefan only produces sets when he sees fit and we don't follow a production schedule. Sometimes we can go almost a whole year without a new set. Yet our collectors patiently wait for us. I think they appreciate his level of commitment to quality. They also are very giving with feedback and product ideas, and I know Stefan reads our Forums all the time."
Martin has been the Lead Designer, or Co-Developer on the following Dwarven Forge sets:
Fantasy Floor Set - MM-021
Fantasy Starter Set - MM-022
Den of Evil Room and Passage Set - MM-023
Cavernous River and Walls Set - MM-024
Cavernous Lake Set - MM-025
Medieval Building Set - MM-026
Den of Evil Wicked Additions Set - MM-027
Medieval Building Expansion Set - MM-028
Den of Evil Room Set - MM-030
Cavernous Water Expansion Set -MM-031
Cavernous Chasm Set - MM-032
Realm of the Ancients Set - MM-034
Realm of the Ancients 2 Set - MM-035
Sci-Fi Alpha Expansion Set - SF-003
Sci-Fi Beta Expansion Set - SF-004
Sci-Fi Gamma Expansion Set - SF-005
True Dungeon
Martin is the creator of True Dungeon, a life size 3d dungeon puzzle that occurs annually at Gen ConGen Con
Gen Con is one of the largest and most prominent annual gaming conventions in North America. It features traditional pen-and-paper, board, and card-style games, including role-playing games, miniatures wargames, board games, live action role-playing games, collectible card games, non-collectible...
Indianapolis. Not only does he author every adventure to date, but he also builds most of the props and sets used for the event. True Dungeon started at Gen Con
Gen Con
Gen Con is one of the largest and most prominent annual gaming conventions in North America. It features traditional pen-and-paper, board, and card-style games, including role-playing games, miniatures wargames, board games, live action role-playing games, collectible card games, non-collectible...
Indy in 2003, and has grown wildly since then. True Dungeon has held the record as the biggest event at Gen Con
Gen Con
Gen Con is one of the largest and most prominent annual gaming conventions in North America. It features traditional pen-and-paper, board, and card-style games, including role-playing games, miniatures wargames, board games, live action role-playing games, collectible card games, non-collectible...
since 2005, selling over 4000 tickets a year for the annual event. In addition to the fantasy styled True Dungeon, Martin worked with Upper Deck Entertainment in 2004 and 2005 to produce True Heroes, an event similar in scale to True Dungeon, but with a superhero theme. Martin has authored the following True Adventures Modules, with synopsis:
TD1 - "The Five Aspects" 2003
• The party is lost in a savage land, and to survive, they must escape a druidical proving ground.
TD2 - "Return to Hommlet" 2004
• The adventurers must explore the wilderness north of Hommlet to find an evil wizard who has convinced a group of lizardmen to destroy Hommlet.
TH1 - True Heroes "Wanted: Wolverine" 2004
• The party must discover who is planning an evil attack on the United Nations.
TH2 - True Heroes "Avengers Assemble!" 2005
• The mighty Avengers must unite to save the world from a mysterious Super Villain.
TD3 - "Battle Below Greyhawk" 2005
• The adventurers must delve deep under Castle Greyhawk to find a clue to help the party in the opposite adventure "Assault Above Greyhawk"
TD4 - "Assault Above Greyhawk" 2005
• The adventurers must travel into the bizarre tower of Greyhawk to stop an evil artifact from destroying the city of Greyhawk
TD5 - "Escape the Spider Cult" 2006
• The first adventure in a three year story arc. The party must escape the clutches of an evil cult, and warn the city of a coming invasion.
TD6 - "Race Across Greyhawk" 2007
• The second adventure in a three year story arc. The adventurers must secretly travel across Greyhawk to the tower of an evil conspirator to learn more about the coming siege.
TD7 - "Hope for the Lost" 2008
• The third adventure in a three year story arc. The adventurers must infiltrate the headquarters of an evil army to banish their dark lord Iuz, and save the city of Greyhawk.
TD8 - "The Five Aspects (Revised)" 2009
• An new and fresh update to the classic 2003 module: "The Five Aspects" featured a new ending with two possible outcomes.
TD9 - "With Smoak Comes Fire" 2009
• The first adventure in a two year story arc. The wizard Bibwik sends the adventurers on a quest to construct a protective medallion that will give them the upper hand against the crafty red dragon, Smoak.
TD10- "DragonWard" 2010
• The second adventure in a two year story arc (1). The adventurers must construct a protective medallion to give themselves a chance against the crafty red dragon, Smoak.
TD11 -"The Evading Hilt" 2010
• The second adventure in a two year story arc (2). While the party in "Dragonward" distracts the dragon Smoak with a deadly melee, this party must sneak into his lair and recover an evil artifact.
Gen Con
Gen Con
Gen Con is one of the largest and most prominent annual gaming conventions in North America. It features traditional pen-and-paper, board, and card-style games, including role-playing games, miniatures wargames, board games, live action role-playing games, collectible card games, non-collectible...
owner Peter Adkison
Peter Adkison
Peter D. Adkison is the founder and first CEO of Wizards of the Coast , as well as a hobby game professional.During Adkison's tenure, Wizards of the Coast rose to the status of a major publisher in the hobby game industry. Wizards achieved runaway success with its creation of "Magic: the...
has said about True Dungeon.,
"Simply put, True Dungeon is the coolest event in the gaming universe. It’s the largest event at Gen Con, in fact it’s so big that Gen Con has to open registration for it separate from the rest of the event listing or the system crashes. It’s so cool it has its own line of merchandise that is traded on the secondary market like collectibles. It must be seen to be believed! I am very proud to have True Dungeon as the Gen Con centerpiece.”
Martin is also the creator and designer of the unique True Dungeon game component known as True Dungeon Treasure Tokens. These have been printed in yearly editions since 2003, and have created their own secondary market on Ebay; One token went for over $1,000 at auction. Martin is the lead content designer and co-graphic designer for these full color in-game pieces. Every edition since 2004 has sold out.
Martin is also co-videographer and co-editor for the True Dungeon teaser trailers.
Awards and nominations
Martin was one of five nominees for the 2004 Diana Jones Award for Excellence in Gaming, an annual award created to publicly acknowledge excellence in gaming. Martin has also received praise in numerous publications for his work with True Dungeon, including Dragon MagazineDragon (magazine)
Dragon is one of the two official magazines for source material for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game and associated products, the other being Dungeon. TSR, Inc. originally launched the monthly printed magazine in 1976 to succeed the company's earlier publication, The Strategic Review. The...
, and Knights of the Dinner Table
Knights of the Dinner Table
Knights of the Dinner Table is a comic book/strip created by Jolly R. Blackburn and published by Kenzer & Company. It primarily focuses on a group of role playing gamers and their actions at the gaming table, which often result in unfortunate, but humorous consequences in the game...
.
