Who Is This "Stan!" Anyway?

Formative Years: Stan! was born in Brooklyn, NY and raised in the Long Island town of Wantagh. He played a lot of tennis, read a whole lot of comic books, and dabbled here and there with both writing and cartooning. Stan! might not have been an exemplary student, but he went through the Levittown educational system without getting any of his classmates or teachers to ever threaten him with bodily harm (and hey ... what more can you ask from a public education?). He graduated from Gen. Douglas MacArthur H.S. in the spring of 1982.

Pre-Career: Stan! attended the State University of New York at Binghamton, where he stayed 5 years before walking away with a degree in Advanced Book Report (though his professors insist that the diploma is for studies of English and General Literature). In his time at SUNY-B Stan! served terms as both editor for Poor Dick's Almanac and as Dickinson Community's Resident Artist. In 1987 he was presented with the Dickenson Community Distinguished Service Award, which he still proudly keeps on his mantle.

Early Efforts: After lounging around not doing much for a couple of years, Stan! accepted a position as Head Teacher at the Fuji City, Japan branch of English Through Movies. He spent the next 5 years in Japan teaching at various schools and companies. In his spare time Stan! co-founded and became the first president of J.I.G.G. (Japan's International Gamers Guild). He edited, published, and painted the covers for JIGG's bi-monthly newsletter, Guild Notes, and took on occasional freelance writing and illustration assignments.

The Big Leagues: In 1994 Stan! was hired by West End Games to be a graphic designer. Immediately he also began doing freelance writing and cartooning for WEG. A few months later he switched departments to become Line Editor for the company's Paranoia and Tales from the Crypt lines. In 1995 he left WEG to join the editorial staff of TSR, where he briefly worked on the Ravenloft, Dragon Dice, and Dark Sun settings. When the chance to design for the Dragonlance setting presented itself, Stan! jumped at the opportunity. When TSR was bought by Wizards of the Coast, Stan! not only moved to Seattle but also made the leap to full-time designer. One thing led to another, and soon he was also taking his first steps into the whacky world of management.

Into the Front Office: Beginning in 1998 Stan! served as a Creative Director of one sort or another in Wizards of the Coast's RPG R&D department. At one time or another he held the managerial reins for Dragonlance, Forgotten Realms, Greyhawk, Marvel Super-Heroes, and Ravenloft not to mention the department's playtesting and quality control efforts. Somehow, he still managed to find time to write bits of game and fiction here and there, including his first solo novel, The Crab (for the Legend of the Five Rings Clan War series). He also was an integral part of the team that developed the d20 Modern RPG. But management is always a tenuous position to be in ... and eventually the owners decided they wanted a change. In September of 2002 Stan! found on the wrong side of a rather large corporate layoff.

Entrepreneurial Spirit: During "outplacement training," Stan! joined forces with JD Wiker, Rich Redman, and Marc Schmalz and began planning an enterprise that eventually became The Game Mechanics, Inc. TGM specializes in designing d20 System game products using the insight and skills its founders learned while working for TSR and Wizards of the Coast. Its products are produced as PDFs and sold online, but the company has an ongoing partnership with Green Ronin that brings many of their products to store shelves in printed form. Over the past few years, some changes have been made to the company's roster, but TGM is still going strong. Visit their website to find out what they're currently working on.

Back In The Pool: At that time Stan! also went back in the freelance pool which helped him remember that writing and drawing are the things he loves best about working in this field. (Potential employers note, he's NEVER too busy to discuss the possibility of doing MORE writing or drawing.) There were a lot of assignments for Wizards of the Coast, some designing projects (mostly d20 Modern related), a few illustration jobs (for the web sites), and his second novel (Dragon Day for the Dragonlance: The New Adventures line). Much though he loved the  lifestyle, the irregular paychecks (along with the bursting of the d20 bubble) made it harder and harder for Stan! to make a living just through freelancing. Eventually, he decided it was time to look for another in-house position.

California Here Stan! Comes: The "house" Stan! wound up going "in" belonged to Upper Deck Entertainment. In March 2005 he joined UDE as an Associate Content manager responsible for writing flavor text, promotional copy, and other assignments for TCGs like Vs. System, Avatar: The Last Airbender and Monster Allergy. In addition, he helped to create new IPs for use in TCGs and animation. Things changed a bit in October of 2005 when there was a corporate reorganization and Stan! was asked to step into a managerial role. He is currently the Creative Content Manager for UDE.

Summation: In his spare time he plays D&D and d20 Modern, maintains his modest little website, watches an unhealthy number of Godzilla movies, and wonders if not having a cat ?or some more exotic pet?is somehow holding back his career. Stan! lives in Vista, CA where he hopes to one day be the owner of a Sony Aibo.