James Desborough (game designer)

James "Grim" Desborough is a British game designer, author, and blogger who has worked primarily on role-playing games, as well as card games, board games, and social computer games.

James Desborough
Born (1975-12-05) December 5, 1975 [1]
Winchester. Hampshire, U.K.[1]
NationalityBritish
Other namesGrim
Occupation(s)Game designer, author, videographer, podcaster, blogger
Website"Postmortem Studios".

Career

James Desborough wrote The Munchkin's Guide to Powergaming in 2000/2001,[2] winning an Origins Award for that work along with his co-authors Steve Mortimer and Phil Masters.[3] Desborough was a co-author of CS1: Cannibal Sector One he also briefly worked as the line editor for SLA Industries.[4] Desborough is also the owner of Postmortem Studios.[4] Postmortem Studios was one of Cubicle 7's first company partnerships due to Desborough's connections with Angus Abranson.[4] He later became creative director at Chronicle City, Abranson's new venture[5] but this partnership ended in July 2021.[6]

In 2017 he released a licensed role-playing game based on John Norman's fantasy series Gor, which also included art by Michael Manning.[7]

Desborough's work was included in Red Phone Box,[8] and in The Mammoth Book of Erotic Romance and Domination.[9] He also self-publishes.

His D&D design work includes Monster Manual V (2007) and City of Stormreach (2008).

Desborough's career has often been characterised by humour and adult content, leading to his role as Games Master for the adult stream 'Tabletopless'.[10] While the stream primarily plays Dungeons and Dragons they have also played Cyberpunk, The Witcher and others.

Desborough is the author of a self-published August 2017 book which claimed that Gamergate was "a genuinely important battle in the ongoing culture war"[11]: ¶79.3  and portrayed it as a necessary "social revolt" against a new Satanic Panic, rather than as a harassment campaign. In the book's introduction, Desborough writes that his distress regarding opposition and harassment related to Gamergate, as well as a sense of betrayal led him to attempt suicide in October 2014.[11]: ¶3.9 

Desborough has appeared as a commentator on men's issues on The Stream on Al Jazeera.[12]

References
  1. Desborough, James (18 February 2023). "I'm the Subject of a Wikipedia Edit War". Postmortem Studios. Archived from the original on 18 February 2023. Retrieved 18 February 2023.
  2. The Munchkin's Guide to Powergaming: ISBN 1-55634-347-7
  3. "Origins Awards 2000". Archived from the original on 7 October 2014. Retrieved 7 October 2014.
  4. Shannon Appelcline (2011). Designers & Dragons. Mongoose Publishing. p. 430. ISBN 978-1-907702-58-7.
  5. Girdwood, Andrew (13 February 2013). "Chronicle City appoints "Grim" James Desborough". Geek Native. Archived from the original on 3 May 2015. Retrieved 17 March 2023.
  6. Desborough, James (1 July 2021). ""Grim" James Desborough ends partnership with Chronicle city". Postmortem Studios. Archived from the original on 17 November 2021. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
  7. grimachu (23 April 2017). "#RPG – The Gor RPG is RELEASED!". Postmortem Studios. Archived from the original on 28 April 2017. Retrieved 27 April 2017.
  8. "Ghostwoods Books". Archived from the original on 28 May 2014. Retrieved 21 June 2014.
  9. Jakubowski, Maxim (8 July 2014). The Mammoth Book of Erotic Romance and Domination. Running Press. ISBN 978-0762452255.
  10. "TableTopless Official Website". tabletopless.org. Archived from the original on 3 February 2023. Retrieved 15 March 2023.
  11. Desborough, James (2017). Inside Gamergate: a social history of the gamer revolt (ePub). Postmortem Studios. ISBN 978-0-244-62772-0. OCLC 1011256859.
  12. raisa (2 June 2014). "Through men's eyes". Archived from the original on 8 June 2014. Retrieved 21 June 2014.
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