Don Greenwood (game designer)

Don Greenwood
Cover of The General (July–August 1972) showing its new editor Don Greenwood (on right) and game designer Randy Reed
Occupations
  • Game designer
  • magazine editor
Known for

Don Greenwood is an American board wargame designer and an editor of wargaming magazines.

Early career

Don Greenwood became interested in board wargames in his teens, and became a member of a local chapter of a national wargaming group called SPECTRE.[1]

In 1967, Greenwood started publishing his own wargame fanzine, Panzerfaust, and remained its editor for five years.

Avalon Hill

In 1972, Greenwood joined the staff of Avalon Hill Game Company as Research & Design Director, as well as Editor of the company's house organ, The General.[2] Greenwood was also responsible for resurrecting older games and revising the rules to produce a new edition. His first assignment was to rewrite Jim Dunnigan's rules for the unpublished game Outdoor Survival; once he was finished, the game became a perennial bestseller for Avalon Hill.[3] Other games Greenwood produced new editions of included Anzio, Afrika Korps, and Caesar: Epic Battle of Alesia.

Greenwood helped to organize the first Origins Game Fair in Baltimore in 1975, and suggested calling the event "Origins" as a nod to Avalon Hill's creation of board wargaming. Greenwood also helped to organize the first Avaloncon, which morphed into the World Boardgaming Championships, and was president of the Boardgame Players Association.

After Avalon Hill

In 1982, Greenwood left Avalon Hill but continued to work in the wargame industry, notably for GMT Games.

Awards

Games

Greenwood was the primary designer of these games:

Avalon Hill

GMT Games

While working for Avalon Hill, Greenwood significantly revised these already-published games:

References

  1. ^ Peterson, Jon (2024). Playing at the World, 2E. Cambridge MA: MIT Press. p. 6. ISBN 9780262548779.
  2. ^ "Cover Story". The General. Vol. 9, no. 2. July–August 1972. p. 2.
  3. ^ "Games: 1972". The Avalon Hill General Index and Company History, 1952–1980. 1980. p. 45.
  4. ^ Hall of Fame Archived June 26, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ "Poker Deck". Flying Buffalo. Retrieved February 11, 2014.