Robin Laws

Robin D. Laws (born October 14, 1964 in Orillia, Ontario, Canada) is a Canadian writer and game designer who lives in Toronto, Canada. He is the author of several novels and role-playing games as well as an anthologist.

Game designer 1990s Laws has been playing role-playing games since he was a teenager around 1980 and has worked as a game designer since the early 1990s.

Around 1990, Jonathan Tweet wrote about a game of his in Alarums & Excursions, and Laws corresponded with Tweet about it there. John Nephew of Atlas Games then offered Tweet to publish the game, and Laws contributed to it. The result was Over the Edge (1992).

Daedalus Games got its start in 1993 when Laws came to Jose Garcia with an idea for a role-playing game based on Hong Kong action cinema; while Garcia liked the idea, his priority was Nexus: The Infinite City which was published in 1994 with Garcia as the primary designer and developer, and Laws, Bruce Baugh, and Rob Heinsoo as additional authors. With the income from the card game, Daedalus published the role-playing game by Laws as Feng Shui (1996), which utilized a variation of game rules from Nexus, and began to publish supplements. The Esoterrorists (2006) by Laws was the first release with this system, supported by his sourcebook The Esoterror Factbook (2006); the next year, Pelgrane released Fear Itself (2007) by Laws. and it went on to win the 2014 Diana Jones Award. After another successful Kickstarter by Atlas Games, Laws released a second edition of Feng Shui twenty years after its original release, removing obstructive rules and marking a "critical shift" in the game's background. Laws has since published the specialized Cthulhu Confidential (2017), offering a modified GUMSHOE system for roleplaying with one player and the GM, and the Yellow King RPG inspired by Robert W. Chambers (2020), also for Pelgrane Press.

In March 2025, Laws was appointed Creative Director of Pelgrane Press.

Author Robin D. Laws published his first novel Pierced Heart in 1996, set in the world of Over the Edge; it was released as an e-book in 2014. His subsequent novels included the original The Rough and the Smooth as well as novels set in the game settings of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, City of Heroes and Pathfinder. Laws also had stories published in Synister Creative's pulp magazine, and in the fiction anthology The Book of All Flesh for the All Flesh Must Be Eaten RPG: "The first is a light-hearted adventure, and the other is really, really dark". Laws is also the editor of the Stone Skin Press fiction imprint from Pelgrane Press. computer games and wrote for Marvel's Iron Man with Mike Grell in 2003. He writes an irregular advice column for role-players called See Page XX, and releases a weekly podcast with Ken Hite for Pelgrane Press, Ken and Robin talk about stuff.

Conventions Robin Laws is often invited speak at conventions around the world, having made appearances at Gen Con Australia and Ropecon in Finland.

Laws attends Gen Con Indy and the Toronto International Film Festival every year. He has stated that he often cannot attend Fan Expo Canada because that convention often takes place too soon after Gen Con and too soon before TIFF, but he likes to attend it whenever he can. He was Fan Expo's gaming guest of honor in 2005 and 2010.

Since 2010, Laws has participated in Dragonmeet in London as a guest of Pelgrane Press.

Works A partial list of works by Robin D Laws:

Role-playing games and related supplements For 13th Age:

13 True Ways

Ashen Stars

Cthulhu Confidential

For Deadlands: Hell on Earth Monsters, Muties and Misfits (et al.)

For Dungeons & Dragons: Dungeon Master's Guide II (et al.) Seven Strongholds (Atlas Games Penumbra)

For the Earthdawn RPG: Throal: The Dwarf Kingdom Infected Horrors Denizens of Earthdawn (Volume 2) The Theran Empire Parlainth Adventures (et al.)

The Esoterrorists The Esoterror Factbook Fear Itself

Feng Shui: Action Movie Roleplaying Four Bastards Burning Shaolin

For the Firefly Role-Playing Game: Ghosts In the Black

Gaean Reach RPG

For Greg Stafford's Glorantha setting

Glorantha: the Second Age and associated supplements HeroQuest first and second editions Hero Wars and associated supplements

For GURPS: Fantasy 2: Adventures in the Mad Lands

Hillfolk

Jack Vance's The Dying Earth Roleplaying Game Kaiin Player's Guide Turjan's Tome of Beauty and Horror (with Ian Thompson) Cugel's Compendium of Indispensable Advantages (et al.) The Excellent Prismatic Spray 2-5 (et al.)

Mutant City Blues Hard Helix

Nexus: The Infinite City (et al.)

OG: Unearthed Edition

For Over the Edge: Unauthorized Broadcast Weather the Cuckoo Likes Wildest Dreams Over the Edge, 2nd Edition (with Jonathan Tweet)

Pandemonium!: Adventures in Tabloid World (Contributor) Stranger Than Truth: Further Adventures in Tabloid World (Contributor)

Pantheon

Robin's Laws of Good Game Mastering

Rune

Shadowfist Players' Guide Volume 1 (with Rob Heinsoo)

Star Trek: The Role Playing Game

Star Trek: The Next Generation RPG Raiders, Renegades, & Rogues (et al.)

For Talislanta: Sub-men Rising

For Trail of Cthulhu The Armitage Files Out of Space Scenario: Repairer of Reputations Stunning Eldritch Tales Dreamhounds of Paris

For the Underground RPG: Ways and Means

For Vampire: The Dark Ages: House of Tremere

For Vampire: the Masquerade: Blood Magic: Secrets of Thaumaturgy

For Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay Heart of Chaos (Doomstones Campaign Volume 3)

Novels Pierced Heart The Rough and the Smooth Honour of the Grave Sacred Flesh Liar's Peak Freedom Phalanx Pathfinder Tales: The Worldwound Gambit Pathfinder Tales: Blood of the City The Missing and the Lost Dreamblade fiction: Cathedral of Thorns