Bruce Nesmith

Bruce Nesmith
Bruce Nesmith
	Bruce Nesmith, 2018
Born	United States
Nationality	American
Occupation(s)	Game designer, Novelist
Known for	Dungeons & Dragons, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Bruce Nesmith is a game designer who has worked primarily on role-playing games. He was Creative Director at TSR, working on a variety of games including Dungeons & Dragons, and is a senior game designer at Bethesda Game Studios, where he has worked on AAA titles such as Fallout 3, Fallout 4 and Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, and was lead designer on Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

Career edit

TSR, Inc. hired Bruce Nesmith in 1981 to design computer games on the Apple II+.^[1] He soon moved on to be a writer of Dungeons & Dragons modules.^[1] After the original Dragonlance group began, the Dragonlance Series Design Team was later expanded to also include Margaret Weis, Douglas Niles, Bruce Nesmith, Mike Breault, Roger Moore, Laura Hickman, Linda Bakk, Michael Dobson and Garry Spiegle.^[2] Nesmith designed Ravenloft: Realm of Terror (1990), which built on the ideas explored in the original Ravenloft adventure written by the Hickmans in an attempt to make Advanced Dungeons & Dragons competitive with horror role-playing games such as Call of Cthulhu and Chill.^[3] Nesmith and Andria Hayday designed the DragonStrike board game, which was published by TSR, Inc.^[4]

His other design work for D&D includes The War Rafts of Kron (1984), Sabre River (1984), Master Player Screen Featuring The Spindle (1985), The Book of Lairs II (1987), Tales of the Outer Planes (1988), Monstrous Compendium, Volume 2 (1989), Monstrous Compendium, Volume 1 (1989), Hall of Heroes (1989), Monstrous Compendium Spelljammer Appendix (1990), Monstrous Compendium Greyhawk Appendix (1990), Monstrous Compendium Dragonlance Appendix (1990), Greyhawk Ruins (1990), Touch of Death (1991), Monstrous Compendium Forgotten Realms Appendix II (1991), Goblins' Return (1991), Darklords (1991), Unsung Heroes (1992), From the Shadows (1992), Forbidden Lore (1992), Van Richten's Guide to Werebeasts (1993), House of Strahd (1993), The Created (1993), Ravenloft Campaign Setting, 2nd Ed. (1994), Hour of the Knife (1994), First Quest (1994), Dark Sun Monstrous Compendium Appendix II: Terrors Beyond Tyr (1995), Psionic Artifacts of Athas (1996), and Domains of Dread (1997).

Nesmith was one of the guests of honor at "Winter Fantasy 18" in 1994.^[5]

In 1995 Nesmith moved into the computer game field, contributing to The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall computer roleplaying game, and Terminator computer games.^[1] He then became a senior game designer for Bethesda Game Studios, where he worked extensively on The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and its expansion, The Shivering Isles,^[1] as well being the lead designer on Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.^{[citation needed]} The video game Fallout 3, for which Nesmith did some of the quest writing, was nominated for an award for videogame writing at the Writers Guild of America Awards 2008.^{[citation needed]}

In 2021, Nesmith released his first novel Mischief Maker: Norse Mythology Reimagined.^[6]

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Nesmith, Bruce (2007). "Star Fleet Battles". In Lowder, James (ed.). Hobby Games: The 100 Best. Green Ronin Publishing. pp. 295–297. ISBN 978-1-932442-96-0.
^ Hickman, Tracy; Weis, Margaret (1987). Dragonlance Adventures. TSR. pp. 2. ISBN 0-88038-452-2.
^ Shannon Appelcline (2011). Designers & Dragons. Mongoose Publishing. p. 26. ISBN 978-1-907702-58-7.
^ Swan, Rick (December 1993). "Role-playing Reviews". Dragon (#200). Lake Geneva, Wisconsin: TSR: 117–118.
^ Advertisement in Polyhedron Volume 15, Number 7, Issue 87, July 1993
^ Nesmith, Bruce (2021). Mischief Maker: Norse Mythology Reimagined. Craig Martelle, Incorporated. ISBN 978-1953062130.