Mike Pondsmith

Michael Alyn Pondsmith is an American roleplaying, board, and video game designer. He founded the publisher R. Talsorian Games in 1982, where he developed a majority of the company's role-playing game lines. Pondsmith is the author of several RPG lines, including Mekton, Cyberpunk (1988) and Castle Falkenstein (1994). He also contributed to the Forgotten Realms and Oriental Adventures lines of the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, worked in various capacities on video games, and authored or co-created several board games. Pondsmith also worked as an instructor at the DigiPen Institute of Technology.

Early life and education Born into a military family, Mike Pondsmith was the son of a psychologist and an Air Force officer, who traveled around the world with the United States Air Force for the first 18 years of his life. He graduated from the University of California, Davis with a Bachelor of Arts major in graphic design and a Bachelor of Science major in behavioral psychology.

Pondsmith recalls that he had been designing games even as a child, but it was not until college that he was introduced to the idea of pen and paper roleplaying games when a friend got a copy of the original Dungeons & Dragons (D&D). He has said that originally he had wanted to be a special effects designer and stumbled into table top games "by dumb luck." Pondsmith has said that his first introduction to Dungeons and Dragons was via its predecessor, Chainmail. His interest spiked, however, when he acquired a copy of Traveller, a science fiction role-playing game published in 1977 by Game Designers' Workshop. Dissatisfied with its mechanics, Pondsmith rewrote the game for his personal use under the name Imperial Star. Pondsmith later called Traveller the best roleplaying game he had encountered in the Green Ronin's award-winning Hobby Games: The 100 Best.

Early career Before he became a pen and paper game designer, Pondsmith worked in the video game industry as a graphic designer. His first job after college involved designing packaging and advertising materials for the now-defunct California Pacific Computer Company (CPCC). Repackaging Japanese games for the Western world market was the main focus of CPCC in its early days. He later moved on to create designs for the original titles produced by Bill Budge and for the early Ultima games designed by Richard Garriott, all of which were published by CPCC.

Early role-playing games The first game Pondsmith designed from the ground up was Mekton, a mecha game with heavy manga and anime influences, released in 1984. Pondsmith admitted that he was mostly basing his work on the Mobile Suit Gundam manga written in Japanese, which he had acquired. Not understanding the text, he inaccurately recreated the world dynamics purely from the imagery of the comic books. The game's first public testing occurred at a local convention. The success of Mekton proved to Pondsmith that he could make a living out of game design, and he founded the company R. Talsorian Games (RTG) in 1985. In 1987, RTG released another of Pondsmith's games inspired by Japanese manga, Teenagers from Outer Space, (RPGA Gamer's Choice Award). Teenagers from Outer Space was re-released with significant changes to the mechanics in 1989. Games such as Cyberpunk (later Cyberpunk 2020) and Cyberpunk V3 were translated into 9 languages. Castle Falkenstein (Best Game of 1994), Cybergeneration, and Dream Park soon followed. He also collaborated with the Hero Games designers on the Fuzion system.

Cyberpunk roleplaying game

In 1988 R.Talsorian Games released Mike Pondsmith's Cyberpunk: The Roleplaying Game of the Dark Future. Set in the year 2013 (and often referred to as Cyberpunk 2013), the game was a boxed product consisting of three separate books penned by Pondsmith, with Mike Blum, Colin Fisk, Dave Friedland, Will Moss and Scott Ruggels as co-authors. Several expansions by Pondsmith and other authors followed and Pondsmith released Cyberpunk 2020, a handbook with an updated story arc and mechanics, (although existing expansions remained compatible with the new game) in 1990.

Pondsmith designed Cyberpunk 2013 as the second game to use the Interlock system.

In 1996, Wizards of the Coast licensed Cyberpunk for their collectible card game Netrunner. Designed by Richard Garfield, Netrunner featured locations, entities, and characters familiar to Cyberpunk 2020 players. The game was named one of The Millennium's Most Underrated Games in 1999 in Pyramid magazine published by the Steve Jackson Games. Mike Pondsmith is featured in the game's credits in the 'special thanks' section and makes a cameo appearance as "Omni Kismet, Ph.D." (character's name is an anagram of his). On May 10, 2012, Fantasy Flight Games announced that they would be releasing Android: Netrunner, a new card game based on Netrunner, under license from Wizards of the Coast. Another short-lived card game based on Pondsmith's IP was Cyberpunk CCG, designed by Peter Wacks, and published by Social Games in 2003.

In 1989, West End Games released a Cyberpunk and Paranoia crossover. The game, called Alice Through the Mirrorshades, was designed by Edward Bolme and is compatible with both Cyberpunk and Paranoia games. At least two fan magazines were created around the time of Cyberpunks peak popularity with Pondsmith's approval: Interface Magazine, which evolved from the unofficial Cyberpunk Update run by Chris Hockabout, and UK-published 'Punk '21.

Castle Falkenstein

In 1994, R. Talsorian Games released Pondsmith's steampunk-themed fantasy role-playing game titled Castle Falkenstein. The game's mechanics were based on playing cards, instead of dice, and geared towards live action role-playing. Castle Falkenstein remains Pondsmith's most critically acclaimed game to date with the 1994 Origins Award for Best Roleplaying Rules, and the 1995 Nigel D. Findley Memorial Award for Best Role-Playing Product recognitions. In 2000, Castle Falkenstein was adapted to the GURPS system by James Cambias and Phil Masters, and released by Steve Jackson Games.

Design contributions outside of R. Talsorian Games Pondsmith was briefly associated with TSR, Inc., where he worked on Buck Rogers XXVC, a science-fiction RPG, and two sourcebooks for the Dungeons & Dragons: Kara-Tur: The Eastern Realms for Oriental Adventures in 1988 and Hall of Heroes for Forgotten Realms in 1989. He also made minor, uncredited contributions to the original Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game released in 1987 by West End Games.

Pondsmith has also been president of the Game Manufacturers Association (GAMA), and in his role of GAMA President in 1993, he arbitrated an out-of-court settlement between Palladium Books and Wizards of the Coast over Wizards' use of Palladium system integration notes in The Primal Order. In MechCommander 2, released in 2001, he played the role of Steel, a character featured in cut-scenes (he also voiced the character for the in-game chatter between characters). He was also credited in Stormfront Studios' Blood Wake released in the same year. The last Microsoft title he was credited with was Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge (2003). In 2004 he left Microsoft to join Monolith Productions where he worked on The Matrix Online (2005). During his time at Microsoft, his wife Lisa Pondsmith kept R. Talsorian in business with limited publications. The first two-page preview of the game was released on August 20, 2001, marking the first pushback of the game's release date. During the prolonged development of the game, Pondsmith released another preview of the third edition of Cyberpunk on December 31, 2004. The game's early manuscript was previewed, and the first public playtesting took place during I-Con in Ronkonkoma, New York between April 8 and 10, 2005.

Illustrations in the game were criticized, for being photographs of slightly modified action figures of which Pondsmith was a collector at the time. with Mike Pondsmith remaining the owner, CEO and lead designer. Regarding the source of the name of the company, Pondsmith has stated that "R. Talsorian is a real person who never plays RPGs". In a 2016 interview he clarified that the name "R. Talsorian" derived from one of the company's investors, a "raisin farmer in Fresno." A fellow game designer, Warren Spector, advised him to avoid naming his company after himself; Pondsmith and his associates heeded that advice by naming their company after "the one person who would never show up at a convention ever," Talsorian. Pondsmith's likeness and name, however, were used directly in the Cyberpunk world under different name; he is featured as "Omni Kismet, Ph.D.", one of the characters in the Netrunner CCG (character's name is an anagram of "Mike Pondsmith"). On October 18, 2012, the game's name and settings were revealed to be Cyberpunk 2077. Immediately afterwards, Brian Crecente was able to confirm with the game's creators that Pondsmith was also working on a new edition of Cyberpunk pen and paper RPG game that would evolve the genre. In the interview for GameSpot, CD Projekt's Marcin Iwiński divulged that Pondsmith's involvement in the video game development mostly focuses on the game world aspect and mechanics, and his input, though constant, does not happen on a daily basis due to the distance between the parties. Video game creators as well as Mike Pondsmith and other RTG designers will contribute on the newly formed cyberpunk.net blog.

Mike Pondsmith also voices two characters in Cyberpunk 2077, one of them being Maximum Mike the DJ of Morro Rock Radio, a continuation of his persona from the Cyberpunk sourcebooks.

Personal life Pondsmith has a wife, Lisa, son Cody and daughter Dolan. Lisa and Cody both work at RTG, while Dolan is a graphic artist. He met Lisa "in a roleplaying group while wearing mirror shades, an army jacket and a nine-inch knife." Lisa serves as a general manager of RTG and has been credited in various titles, most notably as author alongside Jeff Grubb of The Memoirs of Auberon of Faerie sourcebook for the Castle Falkenstein system. Cody is credited as a member of the production staff in the Cyberpunk V3.0 supplement Flashpak, and was also involved in the promotion and community communications relating to Castle Falkenstein. Before designing games, Mike Pondsmith worked as an amateur paleontologist. In his spare time he collects plastic GI Joe action figures, prominently featured in the Cyberpunk v3.0 core rulebook, and enjoys outdoor activities, reading, as well as playing around with radio-controlled cars and planes. and has appeared at many gaming conventions over the years. He was present at many of the Gen Cons which led to his memories of his experiences to be featured in Robin D. Laws' 40 Years of Gen Con published in August 2007 by Atlas Games. He attended I-CON, A-Kon, Norwescon, Origins, DexCon, DunDraCon and others. Pondsmith was a guest of honor at Ropecon 1999, Astronomicon 2001 and I-CON 25 (March 24–26, 2006). Pondsmith also appeared on stage to talk about the Cyberpunk 2077 video game during two of CD Projekt Red's conferences. where he taught game design classes. The two courses he taught were Game History (GAT 110) and Game Mechanics I (GAT 210).

Awards and recognitions Various games designed or co-created by Mike Pondsmith received awards over the years. Teenagers from Outer Space received the RPGA Gamer's Choice Award. Castle Falkenstein received the 1995 Nigel D. Findley Memorial Award for the Best Role-Playing Product. Teenagers from Outer Space received the Best Other Category Role-Playing Game of 1987 Origins Gamer's Choice Award. Cyberpunk received the Best Science-Fiction Role-Playing Game of 1989 Origins Gamer's Choice Award.

On September 12, 2020, Pondsmith was presented with the Jerry Lawson Lifetime Achievement Award at the fourth annual Black in Gaming awards.

Board games designed In 1990, during his time with TSR, Pondsmith co-designed three, two-player board games for the publisher. Attack in the Asteroids with Paul Lidberg and Kim Mohan Battle for the Sprawls with Paul Lidberg Craters of Tharsis with Paul Lidberg Additionally R. Talsorian Games released Pondsmith's board game GoDice! in 2006.