Hogshead Publishing

Hogshead Publishing was a British game company that produced role-playing games and game supplements.

History

In October 1994, James Wallis founded Hogshead Publishing,[1]:305 a company which specialised in role-playing and storytelling games.[2] Wallis based the company in the UK, and got a license from Phil Gallagher at Games Workshop to publish books for Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay.[1]:305 Wallis and Andrew Rilstone changed the name of the magazine Inter*action to Interactive Fantasy due to trademark concerns beginning with its second issue, which was also Hogshead's first publication; the magazine only lasted two more issues after that.[1]:305 Warhammer sold well, but Hogshead had problems with their distributor, and Wallis had to let go of all the company's staff.[1]:305 By the end of 1997, cashflow had improved so Wallis moved the company to an office, and hired Matthew Pook.[1]:306 Phil Masters contributed adventures to Hogshead Publishing's licensed version of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay in the mid-1990s.[1]:305 Shadows Over Bögenhafen (1995) was the first in a series reissuing GW's well-respected The Enemy Within Campaign; Hogshead's updated Enemy Within campaign (1995-1999) was very well received.[1]:305

Wallis was able to publish his game The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen in 1998, the first of what would later be called the company's "New Style" RPGs.[1]:306 John Scott Tynes designed Puppetland (1999), the next New Style game.[1]:306 Violence (1999), by Greg Costikyan (aka Designer X), was, according to Shannon Appelcline, "probably the least well-loved of the New Style games".[1]:306 Robin Laws designed Pantheon and Other Roleplaying Games (2000) as one of the company's "New Style" RPGs.[1]:306 De Profundis (2001), by Michael Oracz, was the last of the New Style role-playing games published by Hogshead Publishing.[1]:306 In 2002 Hogshead Publishing printed the second edition of Nobilis.[3]

Hogshead Publishing published Realms of Sorcery (2001), which finally updated the rushed magic system in the original Warhammer rulebook.[1]:305 Mike Mearls wrote the last product from Hogshead Publishing, a Warhammer adventure titled Fear the Worst (2002) that Hogshead released for free on the internet.[1]:307 On 26 November 2002, Wallis announced that he was ending Hogshead Publishing, and Mark Ricketts bought the company name in February 2003.[1]:307 In early 2003, after Wallis closed down Hogshead Publishing, the rights to Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay reverted to Games Workshop.[1]:51 SLA Industries returned to Dave Allsop.[1]:427 Hogshead returned the rights of the New Style games to their creators.[4]

References
  1. Shannon Appelcline (2011). Designers & Dragons. Mongoose Publishing. ISBN 978-1-907702-58-7.
  2. Sugarbaker, Allan (2002). "Interviews: James Wallis". OgreCave.com. Retrieved 9 August 2009.
  3. R. Sean Borgstrom Nobilis (2nd Edition) (Hogshead Publishing, 2002) ISBN 1-899749-30-6
  4. Sugarbaker, Allan (2002). "Interviews: James Wallis" (http). OgreCave.com. Retrieved January 12, 2006.
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