Its not a knighthood, but its pretty freaking close.  Ian Livingstone, co-creator of the Fighting Fantasy books, and hugely influential figure in the early British RPG scene, is being made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire by the Queen this new year.

Next up: Ed Greenwood for Governor General of Canada.

RPGPundit

It's an amazing and very well-deserved reward for a man who has been a consistent feature both in the British entertainment industry and abroad.

Alas, poor Ian...

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Congratulations! You have won at the Game of Britain!

At the award ceremony, as you fall to your knees, the Queen advances to hand you the Commander Medal. Everybody around you cheers. Her pure silk gloves are a beautiful white, and she wears the royal crown. She smiles at you.
Turn to 400

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"You poor fool! You should have known to mess with the Vampire Witch of Westminster!" - she laughs, baring her pointed teeth. You look around helplessly to see all her court has transformed into undead monsters! - "You know, I always wear thick gloves when I hand out these medals..."
Unfortunately, you did not notice the award was poisoned and you should have turned to a different page. You die a horrible death.

Melan wins, forever.

Quote from: Melan;612977    ...           .

Win!

Ultimate win for Melan.

Melan does indeed win.

/thread.

Livingstone also set up with Steve Jackson (no not that Steve Jackson) White Dwarf (and was edditor for years) and Games Workshop which was originally just a reseller for games coming out of the US.

However there was a heyday of GW stuff where they were actually producing reams of really good stuff from UK designers, board games like Rogue Trooper, Block Mania, Chainsaw Warrior and the Fury of Dracula owe the lives to that halcyon era of GW.

Then Livingstone went off to the computer games industry and GW merged with Citadel and the rest is Warhammer and doom.

Livingstone's CBE (not really very much like a knighood to be honest when Arelene Phillips can get a CBE then its open season) was for his computer games work not his groundbreaking RPG stuff which si a shame really as anyone can be president at Eidos but only a genius could have basically forseen the growth of an entire new pastime.

Quote from: RPGPundit;612964Next up: Ed Greenwood for Governor General of Canada.

As the token Canadian, I submit that GG of Canada (only one at a time and the actual head of state) would be a bigger deal than a British Knighthood (let along a CBE).  

That being said, I have recently noticed how strong gaming in the Toronto area is and want to visit again to see if it is an additive in the water or not.

Quote from: Votan;613099That being said, I have recently noticed how strong gaming in the Toronto area is and want to visit again to see if it is an additive in the water or not.

Seeing as we're downstream from Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, and Buffalo, there could very well be something in the water.

Quote from: jibbajibba;613087Livingstone's CBE (not really very much like a knighood to be honest when Arelene Phillips can get a CBE then its open season) was for his computer games work not his groundbreaking RPG stuff which si a shame really as anyone can be president at Eidos but only a genius could have basically forseen the growth of an entire new pastime.

He gave us Lara Croft, which is either a positive or a negative depending on how you look at it...

Quote from: jibbajibba;613087Livingstone also set up with Steve Jackson (no not that Steve Jackson) White Dwarf (and was edditor for years) and Games Workshop which was originally just a reseller for games coming out of the US.

And a very important one too - one of their first moves was to order a shipment of 1000 copies of white box D&D from Gary and Dave, which was far and away one of the biggest orders TSR had seen up to that point and led to GW having the exclusive licence to resell D&D products in Europe for its early years. So you could make a good case that Ian and Steve were not only instrumental in establishing the RPG hobby in the UK but in Europe as well, and could even argue that they made a key contribution to the early survival of TSR as well.

Quote from: Melan;612977Alas, poor Ian...

Awesome

I believe he wasn't given the CBE so much for Tomb Raider (or Fighting Fantasy) as for his work in trying to push for improved technology education in British schools.

RPGPundit

Not sure exactly what his award was primarily given for, but he's had an admirable career in which one thing has led to another. He's been a visionary and hasn't been tied down to a single medium. While not all reports say he's the nicest guy ever, it's cool to see how he has stayed accessible to the Fighting Fantasy community and kept the franchise going even when there's no longer much financial incentive for him to be personally involved.