Designer of RPGs and Board Games,

Fiction & Non-Fiction Author,

D&D Historian, Game & Play Theorist

Robert J. Kuntz is one of the legendary founders of the D&D™ game and a first-wave alumnus of TSR, the company which in 1974 produced the world's first RPG in his home town of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.

Rob is the "Last Designer Standing" from the game's UR beginning; and he considers it a huge honor and duty to celebrate the people and sources that were instrumental in birthing and nurturing what he believes was a paradigm shift in game design and game theory.

Rob was born in 1955 in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. In 1968 he met and became friends with Gary Gygax and his family. Besides mentoring him in writing and design Gary considered adopting him (at age 16).

In November, 1972 Gygax and Kuntz and several other LGTSA (Lake Geneva Tactical Studies Association) members were on hand for Dave Arneson’s demonstration of his new “fantasy game,” Blackmoor, that he and his group in the Twin Cities had been playing since 1971. This meeting soon blossomed into what is known as the first commercial RPG, Dungeons & Dragons®. This started a blitz in creativity initially centered upon TSR Hobbies in Lake Geneva that has since continued unabated into the present.

Over his creative career, Robert Kuntz has accumulated many awards and accolades for his multi-faceted works. He has over 100 publishing credits to date.  His works have been read worldwide by millions and published in 20 languages.

In 2020 he announced his retirement from the print publication RPG industry to pursue other media projects including a contracted novel about, and film adaptation for, “Lake Geneva Days”.

Due to his unwavering commitment to his fans he licensed part of his RPG properties to Legends of Role Playing and TLB Games. He has reorganized his IP holdings under the RJK Estate umbrella, this in order to concentrate on a wide variety of projects for feature films, documentaries, CRPG ventures, fiction/non-fiction and 5E D&D™ ventures.

Robert Kuntz resides in Corsica, France with his charming wife Nathalie and their four spirited cats, Coco, Pupuce, RooRoo and Mimi.

Contact the RJK Estate: rjk.estate@orange.fr

Maze of Zayene series, author:

• Prisoners of the Maze, Part 1, MoZ series
• Dimensions of Flight, Part 2, MoZ series
• Tower Chaos, author, Part 3, MoZ series
• The Eight Kings, Part 4, MoZ series

• Garden of the Plantmaster, author
• Fate of Istus, co-author
• The Stalk, author
• Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, co-design by major contributions
• Daemonic & Arcane, author
• The Bottle City, author
• El Raja Key's Arcane Treasury, co-author
• Cairn of the Skeleton King, author
• Tower of Blood, co-author
• The Living Room, author
• Ice Grave, author
• Dark Druids, author
• Pryce's Price, author
• Gargax's Glorious Gewgaws, author
• The Return of Robilar, author
• Living Rooms, author

  Maure Castle series:

• The Statuary (July 2004; Dungeon Magazine #112), author
• Chambers of Antiquities (July 2005; Dungeon Magazine #124), author
• The Greater Halls (Oct 2006; Dungeon Magazine #139), author

Electronic media:

• El Raja Key Archive

Non-fiction:

• Dave Arneson's True Genius
• Merlynd the Magician
• The Game That Changed Everything
• The 4th Category
• The Open Form Broadside

Columns:

• EN World:

1. The Beginning: 1968 and Meeting Gary Gygax and the Gygax Family
2. Greyhawk Theatrics, Comments and Quips in Play: Snippets, Funny Lines and Outbursts from the Lake Geneva Gamers
3. Gary's Immersion in Castle El Raja Key: The Four-Way Footsteps
4. Gencon IX: When Many Sought Adventure
5. Burmania! Part 1: Check Your Sanity at the Door
6. Burmania! Part 2: "Keep on Going!"

Fiction (authored):

• Journey to the City of the Gods, short story (with commentary by David L. Arneson)
• Quest for the Vermillion Volume, short story
• Black Festival, novella

ERKA Poster Maps:

• The Original Bottle City
• The Dungeon of the Mad Wizard Krazor
• Castle El Raja Key Megadungeon
• The Sewers & Catacombs
• World of Kalibruhn™ - Lands of the Sunken City
• Dark Druids

Filmography:

• IMDb

Game Design Workshops, Seminars, Panel Discussions (by Convention, 1987-present):

● GENCON ● DRAGON CON ● NORTH TEXAS RPG CON ● GARY CON ●

● LUCCA COMICS & GAMES ● ATHENSCON ● ARNECON [forthcoming Oct 4-6 2024] ●

Award Nominations (3):

• Kings & Things board game (won)
• Sir Robilar's City of Brass (lost)
• Maure Castle, Dungeon Magazine #112 (won)

Magazine Contributions (1973-current, by periodical):

Conventions Chaired:

• GENCON 8 & 9, Chairman
• Winter Fantasy 1, Chairman

Game Industry/Hobby Distinctions/Notable Achievements:

IFW member; LGTSA President; "King" Castle & Crusades Society; Editor, The Domesday Book; lead play-tester Dungeons & Dragons; TSR founding era employee; 3rd longest-standing Fantasy RPG world (World of Kalibruhn, designed top>down); first fiction published by TSR (Quest for the Vermillion Volume); TSR's content editor for Judges Guild licensed D&D products; President Creations Unlimited and Pied Piper Publishing; Charles Roberts Award winner; Golden Ennie Award winner; conceptualized, forwarded and instituted the first designer-received award for RPG design excellence in the industry (the Three Castles Award).

• Multiverse, a Blog from TSR®, Inc. Interview by Timothy Connolly
• La Gazette du Donjon Interview by Antoine Poncin. English interview available here
• The RPG Pundit Three-part interview by Kasimir Urbanski
• Kotaku Interview by Cecilia D'Anastasio
• Syfy Wire Interview by Matt Bassil
• Forbes Interview by Brett Knight
• "Lord Gosumba" Series of video interviews on Twitch/ YouTube: Gabbin #236; Gabbin #244; Gabbin #261.

Miscellaneous:

• La Grande Aventure du Jeu de Rôle by Julien Pirou, Interview.

Select Online Resources:

• Lake Geneva Original RPG Campaign
• Lord of the Green Dragons
• A Partial, Annotated Bibliography of the Works of Robert J. Kuntz
• Dragonsfoot Forums, Q&A with Rob Kuntz
• Pied Piper Publishing Forums
• Robert J. Kuntz, Wikipedia