- John Young (game designer) (September 2, 1947 - May 1978) - designer working for SPI [1]
- Wallace Miller (artist) (1962 - 1984) - artist who worked almost exclusively for Gamelords [2]
- Allan Turoff (August 11, 1930 - June 9, 1984) industrial designer and co-designer of Boggle [3]
- Arthur Dritz (March 16, 1905 - August 1986) - game inventor from New York who was associated with American Toy Works, Game Makers Inc., and Vitaplay Toy Co [4]
- Eleanor R. Abbott (September 9, 1910 - December 1, 1988) - Ontario-born teacher who in the 1940s invented the game Candy Land [5]
- Peter Pallat (September 21, 1901 - 1992) - game designer from Germany. who also worked as an architect in the city of Goettingen [6]
- George I. Parrish, Jr. (July 28, 1930 - August 27, 1992) - game artist largely for Avalon Hill [7]
- Paul J. Gruen (September 24, 1940 - February 3, 1993) - game designer and inventor who worked in the toy and game industry for nearly 30 years [8]
- Bill Markham (game designer) (January 16, 1917 - April 3, 1993) - co-inventor of The Game of Life [9]
- Peter Adolph (1916 - 1994) - English game designer and Royal Air Force veteran who invented the game Subbuteo [10]
- Michael Waitsman (November 26, 1947 - February 19, 1995) - game designer, photographer, and writer who invented the board games Protheus and Void [11]
- Giovanni Ingellis (1951 - September 20, 1998) - Italian game designer known as "the grand old man of wargaming in Italy" [12][13]
- Thomas M. Divoll (March 16, 1928 - August 21, 1999) - designer of the board games Speed Circuit and Win, Place & Show [14]
- Hazel "Skip" Bowman (May 11, 1915 - June 5, 2001) - designing the card game Skip-Bo in 1967 [15]
- Gordon A. Barlow (December 3, 1932 - March 28, 2002) - game designer, toy designer, and artist credited as the lead designer of Mouse Trap [16]
- Gilbert Obermair (February 26, 1934 - December 8, 2002) - Austrian game designer best known for the card game Black Vienna [17]
- Geoff Hayes (game designer) (1927 - 2003) - designed several board games for Denys Fisher Toys, first game Hotel launched in 1974 [18]
- Fred Kroll (June 7, 1921 - August 2, 2003) - created Trouble and Hungry Hungry Hippos, was also head of Uncle Freddie's Fun Factory Inc. [19]
- Robert Yaquinto (May 1, 1926 - December 19, 2004) - founder and CEO of Yaquinto Publications which published 46 games between 1979 and 1984
- Jean E. Martin (died February 17, 2005) - game artist from Texas known for fantasy and Egyptian-themed watercolors and to the Player's Handbook and Dungeon Master's Guide; previously married in the 1980s to David L. Martin [20]
- Samantha Downing (game designer) (February 11, 1967 - April 12, 2005) - role-playing game designer and editor who worked also most exclusively for the publisher Deep7 [21]
- Terry Gore (died September 30, 2005 or October 1, 2005) - wargame designer credited as the designer of 6 different wargames since the 1990s [22]
- Dennis Mize (September 15, 1956 - March 13, 2006) - game figure sculptor, one of the first people to be employed by Ral Partha [23]
- Eugen Oker (June 24, 1919 - March 14, 2006) - also known as Fritz Gebhardt, game designer from Munich, Germany [24]
- Michael P. Bledsoe (March 19, 1956 - May 5, 2006) - role-playing game designer who worked almost exclusively for FASA [25]
- Don Rapp (December 1, 1936 - May 27, 2007) - American role-playing game designer known for his work with classic Traveller [26]
- Chuck Crain (July 29, 1951 - August 23, 2007) - one of the founding partners who formed Ral Partha Industries in 1975, president of Ral Partha from the mid-1980s until the early 1990s, remained as CEO
- Stéphane Peru (December 30, 1981 - February 11, 2008) - French comic artist who worked for DC Comics and Marvel Comics, also known for RPG work [27]
- Jim Musser (September 15, 1947 - March 20, 2008) - game designer for Mayfair Games and other companies such as FASA and TSR [28][29]
- Steve MacGregor (January 18, 1946 - March 23, 2008) - co-founded Flying Buffalo along with Rick Loomis in 1970 [30]
- James Perham (c. 1965 - May 31, 2008) - role-playing game editor [31]
- Rudi Hoffmann (game designer) (August 30, 1924 - July 18, 2008) - game designer credited with over 40 games; Café International won Spiel des Jahres 1989 [32]
- Andy Mathews (September 25, 1967 - December 3, 2008) - art director of Hero Games [33]
- David F. Tepool (October 20, 1954 - May 28, 2009) - game designer known for his Star Trek ship combat games and contributions [34][35]
- John B. Reilly (game designer) (died June 10, 2009) - sports-themed board game designer [36]
- François Nedelec (December 3, 1954 - June 15, 2009) - French game designer [37][38]
- Stefan Trautmann (1973 - July 28, 2009) - role-playing game contributor to Das Schwarze Auge [39]
- Albie Fiore (c. 1946 - July 28, 2009) - game designer and editor for White Dwarf [40][41]
- Blake Beasley (July 24, 1953 - December 28, 2009) - game artist worked for Avalon Hill and Hasbro, art director for Axis & Allies [42]
- Richard Hook (1938 - January 12, 2010) - artist known for over 50 Osprey books, cover artist for Iron Crown Enterprises and other game companies [43][44]
- Bob O'Brien (game designer) (c. 1918 - c. May 2, 2010) - one of the founders of Wargames Research Group [45]
- Terence Wise (died c. August 2010) - British game design writer, wargamer, author, bookseller, and publisher, and a historical writer for more than 25 years [46]
- Forest Brown (October 15, 1949 - September 3, 2010) - game designer for FASA and Battletech [47][48]
- Ned Strongin (June 8, 1919 - April 9, 2011) - game designer and toy inventor, head of Ned Strongin Creative Services and Ned Strongin Associates, best known as co-designer of Connect Four and inventor of Weebles [49]
- Deborah Campbell Ritchie (January 24, 1948 - April 19, 2011) - role-playing game production staff employee for TSR, married to role-playing game designer David J. Ritchie (1951-2009) [50]
- Rockland Russo (March 6, 1948 - January 1, 2012) - game designer and historian, co-designed Space Patrol [51][52]
- Joe DeMarco (April 29, 1918 - January 27, 2012) - designed aviation-themed cover art for games by Avalon Hill and Game Designers Workshop [53]
- Pierre Cléquin (c. 1955 - February 22, 2012) - best known for designing games with Bruno Faidutti such as Warrior Knights, Knightmare Chess, and Baston [54]
- John Lees (game designer) (October 3, 1968 - October 2, 2012) -role-playing game designer and artist known for work with Traveller and HERO System [55]
- Mark Harmon (game designer) (February 3, 1952 - December 7, 2012) - role-playing game writer, with his wife Sue, they created the fantasy game Dragon Storm [56]
- Hunter Gordon (September 14, 1966 - January 24, 2013) - worked on early-2000s Traveller supplements [57]
- Jack Carmichael (game designer) (October 8, 1931 - February 22, 2013) - board game designer and advertising executive, designed Mr. President [ https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamedesigner/1640/jack-carmichael]
- Mark E. Searle (January 5, 1958 - February 28, 2013) - Napoleonic wargame designer [58]
- Dennis Kauth (March 26, 1951 - March 8, 2013) - game artist, cartographer, and graphic designer, often worked for TSR [59][60]
- Dale Sheaffer (March 23, 1952 - October 7, 2013) - graphics designer who worked for Avalon Hill around 1980 [61]
- Bryan Gibson (artist) - (March 9, 1961 - February 10, 2014) artist with classic Traveller role-playing game credits [62]
- Gary C. Morgan (December 31, 1948 - May 22, 2014) - won Charles S. Roberts award for Tac Air and for an article on Borodino: Doomed Victory [63]
- Konstantin Krivenko (1963 - July 5, 2014) - wargame designer who in 1990 founded the Russia-based wargaming and model kit manufacturing company Zvezda Games [64]
- Valentin Herman (died August 15, 2014) - designer of about 20 board games [65]
- Daniel R. Davis (March 28, 1971 - September 10, 2014) - role-playing game writer known for All Flesh Must Be Eaten sourcebooks [66]
- Terry McInnes (August 18, 1943 - November 19, 2014) - contributor to several Traveller supplements [67]
- Omri Rothschild (c. 1955 - 2015) - game designer from Israel who created children's games [68]
- Uğurcan Yüce - see Draft:Uğurcan Yüce [69]
- Mike McArtor (December 7, 1974 - March 23, 2015) - co-creator of Pathfinder Role Playing Game with many other RPG design credits [70]
- Andy Gittins (c. 1955 - c. June 29, 2015) - wargame designer [71]
- Hans Rancke-Madsen (August 4, 1956 - October 9, 2015) - writer for Traveller [72]
- Larry V. Brom (July 23, 1930 - November 6, 2015) - wargame designer known for The Sword and The Flame [73]
- Don McKinney (March 5, 1967 - December 11, 2015) - involved in the development of Traveller5 [74]
- Jason B. McAllister (August 9, 1953 - May 21, 2016) - co-created the classic fantasy wargame Titan [75]
- Irad B. Hardy (c. 1943 - June 5, 2016) - wargame designer who helped design about 20 SPI games between 1975-1978 including War in the Pacific and Highway to the Reich [76]
- Bill Gibbs (game designer) (May 20, 1957 - July 15, 2016) - founded Omega Games with Mike Modica in 1983, designer of the 1984 wargame Ranger [77]
- Harald Bilz (January 25, 1959 - August 29, 2016) - founder of Heidelberger Spieleverlag which publishes German versions of games [78]
- Peter Y. Bromley (March 23, 1956 - September 2, 2016) - game graphic designer for Mayfair Games [79]
- Sean Sweigart (1968 - December 26, 2016) - board game designer mostly for television-themed games, worked 13 years at Gale Force Nine [80]
- John Kula (1946 - December 23, 2016) drew cover art for Simulations Canada wargames in the 1970s and 1980s [81][82]
- Hajo Bücken (1944 - December 30, 2016) - over 75 game board game design credits, first chairman of Game Designer Association 1991-1993 [83]
- Gregory P. Lee (March 4, 1961 - April 16, 2017) - designed supplements for Classic Traveller and Traveller5 [84]
- Alan Bligh (1974 - May 26, 2017) - contributed to Warhammer 40,000 and RPG products, wrote Call of Cthulhu scenarios and novels for Fantasy Flight Games [85][86]
- Frank Thibault (August 21, 1924 - June 16, 2017) - game designer who was also a teacher [87]
- Michael Satran (c. September 3, 1969 - October 28, 2017) - RPG designer for Hero Systems, with several credits for Champions [88]
- André Wiesler (September 25, 1974 - November 23, 2017) - RPG designer and contributor to Envoyer, Das Schwarze Auge, Lodland, and Shadowrun [89]
- David L. Smith (game designer) (1927 - July 25, 2018) - abstract game designer, notably Trax [90]
- Thomas Nicely (February 6, 1943 - September 11, 2019) - mathematics professor who designed three sports games for Avalon Hill in the 1970s [91]
- Alan Roach (game designer) (June 2, 1969 - May 18, 2019) - credited with co-designing board game Star Wars: The Queen's Gambit, worked for Hasbro 23 years [92]
- Steven Creech (February 22, 1966 - May 21, 2019) - owner of DragonWing Games and Bastion Press, contributed to over 25 RPG books [93]
- Piero Cioni (died June 20, 2019) - Italian game designer who designed about 17 board games including World Monuments, Magestorm, Dakota, and Daimyo [94]
- Lee Garvin (September 22, 1968 - June 28, 2019) - designed the humorous RPG Tales from the Floating Vagabond by Avalon Hill, wrote material for Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Deadlands, and 7th Sea RPGs [95]
- Mick Uhl (November 14, 1947 - July 14, 2019) - worked for Avalon Hill as developer for Kingmaker, Wooden Ships & Iron Men, and Bismarck second edition [96]
- Alain Rivollet (June 22, 1964 - August 5, 2019) - board game designer from France with about 20 design credits, published by HABA, Passt Genau, and Kubus Fidibus [97]
- Stuart Asquith (c. 1946 - November 3, 2019) - wargame designer, editor of Practical Wargamer and Regiment magazines and Wargaming in History book series of books, had over 20 books published [98]
- Chad Jensen (c. April 16, 1967 - November 14, 2019) - wargame and Eurogame designer, most of his games published by GMT Games [99]
- Martijn Althuizen (c. 1973 - February 1, 2020) - Dutch board game designer, mostly designed abstract games from 2007 - 2019 through his company SPLLN [100]
- Thomas Gianni (January 5, 1960 – March 30, 2020) - provided artwork for Magic: The Gathering
- Eric Solomon (game designer) (1935 - April 2020) - British game designer [101]
- Lloyd Krassner (July 24, 1970 – May 5, 2020) - designed over 900 board games from 1999 - 2017 as the lead designer of Warpspawn Games [102]
- Charlie Spiegel (March 30, 1952 - June 9, 2020) - game designer and editor associated with wargame company Clash of Arms from 1992 - 2009 [103]
- David Sanders (game designer) (January 19, 1959 - June 26, 2020) - writer who contributed to fantasy RPGs [104]
- Terry Sofian (November 24, 1962 — August 29, 2020) - board game and RPG designer and writer [105][106]
- Terence Peter Donnelly (1947 - September 23, 2020) - board game designer, 1980 game The Mystic Wood published by Avalon Hill [107]
- Tim Taylor (game designer) (November 30, 1959 - November 8, 2020) wargame and role-playing game designer and artist [108][109]
- Bruce Costello (April 24, 1951 - November 19, 2020) - wargame designer who mostly worked for Schutze Games [110]
- Jackie Cassada (July 1949 - December 29, 2020) - prolific role-playing game writer [111]
- Ginichiro Suzuki (November 24, 1934 - January 6, 2021) - game designer and writer, designed about 50 wargames and a few RPG items [112][113]
- Dennis Bishop (c. 1952 - March 2, 2021) - wargame designer on over 20 wargames, first one published 1994 [114]
- Morgan Ellis (game designer) (1978 - March 2, 2021) - role-playing game designer and writer [115]
- Brian Dalrymple (game designer) (died March 17, 2021) - gaming personality who worked in retail, distribution, publishing, cartography, graphic design, layout, and writing [116]
- Rick Barber (artist) (October 16, 1954 - May 6, 2021) - prolific wargame artist, cartographer, and occasional game designer who provided artwork for about 75 wargames and 3 RPGs [117][118][119]
- Duncan MacFarlane (artist) (1948 – May 28, 2021) - wargaming innovator, game artist, and photographer, original owner and editor of Wargames Illustrated first published in 1987, previously editor of Miniature Wargames, in 1981 helped run Citadel Miniatures [120]
- Andrew Hackard (December 24, 1970 - June 17, 2021) - credited as the designer of 85 board game or card games and expansions and writer of 24 role-playing game or magazine items [121][122]
- Don Riddle (1970 - August 31, 2021) - designed about 9 different games [123]
- Peter Archer (game designer) (January 4, 1954 - September 13, 2021) - RPG writer, worked at TSR as senior editor 1996-1997 [124]
- David A. Lupo (May 21, 1975 — October 4, 2021) - lead designer for publisher New World Alchemy, focus on board games influenced by both American and Euro-type games [125][126]
- Jim Winslow (June 8, 1929 - October 29, 2021) - prolific game designer, who had over 40 of his games published in numerous countries [127]
- Ryan Bodenheim (March 9, 1977 – December 20, 2021) game artist and comic book and graphic novel artist, contributed artwork to several RPG items [128]
- Ennio Peres (December 1, 1945 - July 17, 2022) - Italian game designer, crossword author, and anagram expert [129]
- Chris Gabrielson (April 21, 1974 - October 10, 2022) worked for Bad Crow Games, lead designer for Company of Heroes [130]
- Charles Phillips (game designer) (November 7, 1944 - November 7, 2022) - designed several games for Parker Brothers including Advance to Boardwalk, Free Parking, and Clue Jr. [131]
- Ed Pugh (February 24, 1958 - November 24, 2022) - head of Reaper Miniatures, a company he started in 1992 with brother David and Al Pare and Ron Hawkins [132]
- Dave Schueler (July 2, 1964 - January 1, 2023) - wargame designer and technical writer who created about a dozen games for Dan Verssen Games and Clash of Arms Games [133]
- Keith Polster (June 29, 1957 - August 31, 2023) - worked for TSR and wrote adventures for D&D, Boot Hill, and Castles & Crusades [134]
- Doug Berry (game designer) (July 4, 1966 - September 30, 2023) - RPG author for Traveller and other games [135]
- Colin Dixon (artist) (1964 - c. November 18, 2023) - miniatures sculptor and painter, worked for Games Workshop from 1986 to 2002 as their first full-time painter [136]
- Timothy Schleif - (died January 8, 2024) - wargame artist [137]
- Peter Perla (December 12, 1951 - January 21, 2024) - game designer and contributing editor for wargaming magazines Fire and Movement and C3i and play-tester and rules editor for published games [138]
- Hiroshi Yamamoto (game designer) (November 30, 1956 - March 29, 2024) - Japanese science fiction writer and game designer who in the late 1970s, was one of the founding members of RPG collective "Syntax Error" which later became Group SNE [139]
- Peter Watts (Jeux Descartes) (1940 - c. early April 2024) - founder of Jeux Descartes in 1977, which published board games and RPGs, founded the magazine Casus Belli [140]
- Travis Heermann (October 22, 1969 - April 26, 2024) - role-playing game writer and novelist and filmmaker [141]
- Steve Mohan, Jr. (March 17, 1967 – October 22, 2024) - game designer and writer of more than 45 pieces of BattleTech universe fiction [142][143]
- Manny J. Granillo (died November 8, 2024) - co-founded Hoplite Research Games in 2001, designer of about 35 wargames [144]
- Tom Oleson (November 8, 1936 - November 13, 2024) - wargame designer who with J. Ramírez founded game company TYR; most popular game was Anzio [145]
- Bryan Johnson (game designer) (October 16, 1971 - November 17, 2024) - game designer who created about 8 board games, first published game Island Fortress funded on Kickstarter and released 2013 [146]
- Kory Heath (1970 - November 18, 2024) game designer who created Zendo, and his The Gang was released the year he died [147]
- Carla Horger (September 7, 1969 — January 27, 2025) - designed about 16 games, co-designer of Thunder Alley, with husband Jeff created publishing company Laboratory H [148]
- Jack Greene (game designer) (c. 1949 - c. March 17, 2025) wargame designer, his company Quarterdeck Games published Ironbottom Sound, Destroyer Captain, and Norway 1940, briefly worked for Battleline [149]
- Paul Sawyer (game designer) (c. 1970 - March 27, 2025) editor for White Dwarf 1993 to 2007, founded Warlord Games with John Stallard in 2007 [150]
- Craig A. Glesner (died c. July 3-4, 2025) - game writer who contributed to Traveller5, president of Thornwood-Daarnulud LLC which published Traveller5 products [151]
|