Wes Ives

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Wesley D. Ives
NationalityAmerican
Occupation(s)Game designer, Computer technician

Wesley D. Ives, also known as Wes Ives, was an American game designer.[1][2] Ives was a major contributor of the Chivalry & Sorcery role-playing game and produced games for Fantasy Games Unlimited.[2][3] He also wrote for the Alarums & Excursions and Dragon magazines. He is credited with first suggesting a version of the "Ability check", which later became the core mechanic of Dungeons & Dragons.[1]

Career

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Ives was a major contributor to the Chivalry & Sorcery role-playing game, and wrote one of its most popular supplements. His supplement Destrier was described by Campaign 93 as "comprehensive, very manageable, and quite fair".[4] He produced five games for Fantasy Games Unlimited, an american publishing house for role-playing games and contribute to Thieves' World Complete Sanctuary Adventure Pack from Chaosium, one of the publisher's bestselling game supplements.[2][3]

During his short game designer life he also wrote articles for Alarums & Excursions, Dragon, and The Strategic Review magazines.[5][6][7] In 1976, he wrote "How to Use Non-Prime Abilities" for the first issue of Dragon. This was about character attributes (known as "Abilities" in Dungeons & Dragons) and was the first time a designer proposed rolling an "Ability check". A modified version of this rule later became the core mechanic of Dungeons & Dragons.[8][1]

Edward E. Simbalist intended to produce a series called the Compleat Role-Player's Handbook, the first book of which was meant to be available at Gen Con 1979, writing it with Ives and Wilf Backhaus, but no installments of the Handbook series were ever produced.[9]

He worked as a computer technician for a school system in Swansea, South Carolina.[6] He died from a flu in 1995.[citation needed]

Books written or co-authored by Wes Ives

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References

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  1. ^ a b c Hartlage, David (2017-05-30). "Ability Checks—From the Worst Mechanic in Role-Playing Game History to a Foundation Of D&D". DMDavid. Retrieved 2025-09-20.
  2. ^ a b c Mason, Paul (2012-09-15). "A history of RPGs: Made by fans; played by fans". Transformative Works and Cultures. 11. doi:10.3983/twc.2012.0444. ISSN 1941-2258.
  3. ^ a b "Out of the Suitcase #22: Thieves' World - A Classic Case of being 'The Chaosium', not 'The Orderium'..." Chaosium Inc. Retrieved 2025-09-19.
  4. ^ Jones, Jeffrey Paul. Lowry, Donald S. (ed.). "Impressions from the Prism: Destrier: A Player's Aid for Chivalry and Sorcery". Campaign: The Journal of Adventure Gaming. September/October '79 (93).
  5. ^ "DragonDex - Index of Authors". www.aeolia.net. Retrieved 2025-09-13.
  6. ^ a b "Wes Ives | RPG Designer | RPGGeek". rpggeek.com. Retrieved 2025-09-19.
  7. ^ "The Strategic Review #3". M.T. Black Games. Retrieved 2025-09-20.
  8. ^ Dragon Magazine # 045.
  9. ^ Peterson, Jon (2020-12-22). The Elusive Shift: How Role-Playing Games Forged Their Identity. MIT Press. ISBN 978-0-262-36094-4.
  10. ^ a b c d e Schick, Lawrence (1991). Heroic worlds : a history and guide to role-playing games. Internet Archive. Buffalo: Prometheus Books. ISBN 978-0-87975-653-6.
  11. ^ "Destrier". RPGGeek. Retrieved 2025-09-13.
  12. ^ Fine, Gary Alan (2002). Shared Fantasy: Role Playing Games as Social Worlds. Internet Archive. Chicago ; London : University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-24944-5.
  13. ^ "Swords & Sorcerers - RPGnet RPG Game Index". index.rpg.net. Retrieved 2025-09-13.
  14. ^ "Saurians - RPGnet RPG Game Index". index.rpg.net. Retrieved 2025-09-13.
  15. ^ "Chivalry & Sorcery Sourcebook 2 - RPGnet RPG Game Index". index.rpg.net. Retrieved 2025-09-13.
  16. ^ Judges Guild (1980-05-01). The Dungeoneer #17 - May/June 1980.
  17. ^ "Robert L. Asprin's Thieves' World - RPGnet RPG Game Index". index.rpg.net. Retrieved 2025-09-13.
  18. ^ Space Gamer 48.
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